The United States has announced plans to impose sanctions on officials of the Palestinian Authority (PA) shortly after rejecting a United Nations conference outcome where several countries supported the idea of the PA assuming control of Gaza. Additionally, sanctions have been placed on members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
The State Department informed Congress that both the PA and the PLO are not adhering to the requirements set by the PLO Commitments Compliance Act of 1989 (PLOCCA) and the Middle East Peace Commitments Act of 2002 (MEPCA). Consequently, PLO members and PA officials will be barred from obtaining U.S. visas.
A statement from the State Department emphasized that it is crucial for national security to enforce penalties and hold the PLO and PA responsible for failing to meet their commitments and for hindering peace efforts.
PLOCCA specifies that any communication between the U.S. and the PLO depends on the PLO’s acknowledgment of Israel’s right to exist, agreement with United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, and a commitment to refrain from terrorism and denounce such acts.
The statement also criticized the PA and PLO for endorsing terrorism, promoting violence, and rewarding families of Palestinian attackers. Israel often labels this policy of compensating terrorists’ families as “pay-for-slay.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar commended the U.S. for implementing the sanctions and expressed gratitude to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the State Department for demonstrating “moral clarity.”
“The PA must be held accountable for its ongoing policy of ‘Pay-for-Slay’ for terrorists and their families and incitement against Israel in its schools, textbooks, mosques and media,” Sa’ar wrote on X. “This important action by [President Donald Trump] and his administration also exposes the moral distortion of certain countries that ran to recognize a virtual Palestinian state while turning a blind eye to its support for terror and incitement.”
In this composite image, Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on in the left panel and UN Special Rapporteur for the territory of Palestine Francesca Albanese speaks at the UN in the right panel. (Getty Images)
The announcement of sanctions comes just days after several countries signed onto an agreement at a conference co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. The “New York Declaration” calls on Hamas to disarm and surrender control of the Gaza Strip to the PA, something both Israel and the U.S. rejected.
Additionally, earlier this month, the U.S. announced sanctions against U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese over her “biased and malicious activities.”
“Albanese has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West. That bias has been apparent across the span of her career, including recommending that the ICC, without a legitimate basis, issue arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant,” Rubio said in a statement.
