AIPAC welcomes yesterday’s passage of a resolution in the Senate (S. Res. 185) threatening to cut off U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if its leaders “persist in efforts to circumvent direct negotiations [with Israel] by turning to the United Nations or other international bodies.” It also calls on President Obama to “consider suspending assistance to the PA pending a review of the unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas.”

“The Senate has delivered a clear message to the international community that United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state at this time does not further the peace process," said Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), who introduced the resolution with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME). "A permanent and peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved through direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations."

Senator Collins said the measure emphasizes that "any effort to seek unilateral statehood at the United Nations will have serious consequences for future U.S. aid to the Palestinians. The goal should be a true and lasting peace between two states – a democratic, Jewish state of Israel, and a viable, democratic Palestinian state. But the road to peace is through negotiations, not subverting them and making a case before the United Nations."

The bipartisan resolution passed by unanimous consent with 89 Senate cosponsors. In addition to Cardin and Collins, the resolution was introduced by Sens. Robert Casey (D-PA), John Thune (R-SD), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), and Jim Risch (R-ID).
The measure “reaffirms” U.S. law that prohibits American assistance to a Palestinian Authority that “shares power with Hamas unless that Authority and all of its ministers publically accept the right of Israel to exist and all prior agreements and understandings with the governments of the United States and Israel.”
The full text of the resolution can be found at this link.

A companion measure in the House, introduced by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), currently has 293 cosponsors.