US Senate "acts like a staff member of the Israeli government"

A senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation has said that the US Senate acts as if it is a “staff member of the Israeli government”. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Executive Committee and Chairperson of the Department of Culture and Information in the PLO also rejected the Senate’s resolution no. 185 which rules that the US should halt financial assistance to the Palestinian people if the Palestinian Authority pursues its efforts to gain UN recognition for an independent state.

In a press statement, Ms Ashrawi accused the United States legislature of abusing its authority to interfere in foreign policy and put pressure on President Barak Obama to carry out “financial blackmail”. America, she added, is serving Israeli interests and protecting the Zionist state from the consequences of its illegal actions.

“The US and Israel are leading a fierce campaign to get European states on side in preventing the recognition of a Palestinian State by the UN,” she said. “The Palestinian people will not compromise on their fundamental rights which are not subject to blackmail by the US Senate and Congress.”

Ms Ashrawi stressed that the Palestinians remain committed to pushing for membership of the UN as an independent state. This includes a demand for the recognition of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination on their land and the establishment of a state within the pre-June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.