Congress: 115 · Status: active · Israel/Palestine classification: pro-Israel
Data (JSON) — machine-readable record of this bill (identifiers, sponsor, classification, actions, and the member-by-member vote breakdown).
Official record on Congress.gov — full text, actions, and cosponsor history for HR 2390.
Sponsor: Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana (R-FL)
PLO Accountability Act of 2017 This bill amends the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987 to authorize the President to waive for up to six months the prohibition against establishment or maintenance of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) offices, headquarters, premises, or other facilities within U.S. jurisdiction if the President certifies to Congress that the Palestinians have entered into a final negotiated peace agreement with, and have ceased hostilities against, Israel or that: the Palestinians have not, on or after January 1, 2017, obtained state standing in the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof outside an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians; the Palestinians have officially ceased to be International Criminal Court (ICC) members and have withdrawn from the Rome Statute of the ICC; any ICC investigation against Israel initiated by, or on behalf of, the Palestinians has been withdrawn and terminated; the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA) no longer provide financial awards, payments, salaries, or benefits to Palestinians who have committed terrorist attacks, their families, or the families of those who died committing acts of terrorism; and the PLO and the PA have ceased to engage in a pattern of incitement against the United States or Israel.
This law tightens restrictions on PLO operations in the United States by amending the 1987 ban on PLO offices here. It allows the President to temporarily lift that ban only if Palestinians sign a final peace deal with Israel, or meet five strict conditions: not seeking UN statehood, withdrawing from the International Criminal Court, dropping any ICC cases against Israel, stopping payments to families of people who committed attacks, and ending anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rhetoric.
This measure conditions any normalization of PLO-U.S. relations on multiple concessions that go beyond traditional peace negotiations, including restrictions on Palestinian UN participation and ICC membership. It gives Congress leverage over executive branch diplomacy and makes reopening PLO offices contingent on outcomes that may be outside Palestinian negotiators' control.