In a related move, the Trump administration announced Monday it would shutter the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington – a move that drew an immediate rebuke from Palestinian officials who said the White House is trying to bully them. The State Department's spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said the administration was closing the office because the PLO has not been a productive partner in efforts to achieve a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. “The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel.”

The PA has boycotted the Trump administration and rebuffed its peace efforts since the US president’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December of last year. Instead of heeding the warning to resume talks, “PLO leadership has condemned a U.S. peace plan they have not yet seen and refused to engage with the U.S. government with respect to peace efforts and otherwise,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. “The United States continues to believe that direct negotiations between the two parties are the only way forward,” spokeswoman Nauert said in her statement. “This action should not be exploited by those who seek to act as spoilers to distract from the imperative of reaching a peace agreement.”

As for the ICC, Bolton questioned the legitimacy of the court and warned that the U.S. would thwart any attempt by its prosecutors to open investigations into Americans for alleged war crimes and other abuses in conflicts in Afghanistan or elsewhere. We are not retreating from our efforts to achieve a lasting and comprehensive peace." “The United States supports a direct and robust peace process, and we will not allow the ICC, or any other organization, to constrain Israel’s right to self-defence.”

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said the move was “yet another affirmation of the Trump administration’s policy to collectively punish the Palestinian people, including by cutting financial support for humanitarian services including health and education.”

The Palestine Liberation Organization, commonly known as the PLO, formally represents all Palestinians. "The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court," national security adviser John Bolton told the Federalist Society, a conservative group, in his first major address since joining President Donald Trump's White House in April. The ICC has long been controversial, with critics like Bolton suggesting it's a threat to American sovereignty. Supporters say the international court, based in the Netherlands, offers recourse for victims of genocide and other war crimes in lawless countries. In a speech on Monday, Bolton called the ICC a “supranational tribunal that could supersede national sovereignties and directly prosecute individuals for alleged war crimes.”

The ICC was first envisioned in 1998 by the Rome Treaty as a tribunal that could prosecute genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity. “As a court of last resort, it seeks to complement, not replace, national courts,” reads a statement on the ICC’s website. "In theory, the ICC holds perpetrators of the most egregious atrocities accountable for their crimes, provides justice to the victims, and deters future abuses,” Bolton said in prepared remarks to the Federalist Society on Monday. “In practice, however, the court has been ineffective, unaccountable, and indeed, outright dangerous.”

Bolton said he made the announcement now because the Trump administration feared the ICC was about to take action in the Afghanistan matter. In a 2017 address to the United Nations General Assembly, PA President Mahmoud Abbas seemed to violate US law, saying, “We have also called on the International Criminal Court, as is our right, to open an investigation and to prosecute Israeli officials” over Israeli settlement activity, he said. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Monday threatened tough action against the International Criminal Court should it try to prosecute Americans for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and said the PLO's office in Washington would be closed for seeking to punish Israel through the court. The State Department's decision to finalize that move will further inflame tensions between the U.S. and the Palestinians – coming on the heels of the Trump administration's decision to nix funding for U.S. aid to the West Bank and Gaza and to freeze support for the United Nation's program that supports Palestinian refugees. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

“This dangerous escalation shows that the US is willing to disband the international system in order to protect Israeli crimes and attacks against the land and people of Palestine as well as against peace and security in the rest of our region,” he said. "The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court," Bolton said in a speech Monday to the conservative Federalist Society.
Palestinian diplomat Saeb Erekat says that the United States "is willing to disband the international system in order to protect Israeli crimes".