The US decision Nov. 17 to close the PLO office in Washington produced a rare instance of Palestinian unity. Palestinian officials, Palestinian-Americans and opposition activists are all in agreement that the US decision could help usher in a new path for Palestinians. All seem to agree that this could be a rare opportunity to break away from the current US attempts to dictate to Palestinians their strategy, actions and even words.

This unity helped the PLO reject any engagement with the US government and as a result the Trump administration on Nov. 24 reversed its decision and said it would allow the office to continue operations, albeit with some restrictions for the next 90 days.

Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian Authority (PA) ambassador to the United States and the head of the PLO mission in Washington, told Al-Monitor that the status of the Palestinian office cannot always remain under threat of closure. He said, “We can’t be bound by arbitrary decisions of the US legislature, whose decisions are based on pressure groups.” He added that some of these decisions “promote radical Israeli positions" and even "hurt US interests or the ability of the United States to act as a neutral partner for a comprehensive peace.”

Zomlot, who spoke to Al-Monitor by phone from the PLO’s Washington office on Wisconsin Avenue, said that the status of the office is based on a 1987 US law that had considered the PLO to be a terrorist organization. “Despite all the bilateral agreements and cooperation on multiple levels since, it is unacceptable that the status of our office continues like that and we must correct it,” Zomlot said.