Capitulating to Palestinian anger over the Trump administration’s decision to close the Washington, D.C. office of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the State Department said Saturday night that the bureau could remain open if it limits its activities to those “related to achieving a lasting, comprehensive peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.” Critics of the decision to back-track argue it paints US law as arbitrary since Secretary of State Tillerson cited the legal provision in explaining the reason for ordering the closure of the office in the first place. According to that provision, authorization for the PLO office is suspended by virtue of the Palestinians bringing charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court at The Hague – an action already taken which according to Tillerson, “crossed the line.” Others add the requirement that in order to remain open the office’s activities must be limited to the quest for peace is unrealistic and unenforceable. Following the on-again/off-again nature of the threat; the American capitulation after a weekend of arguably unnecessary rancor and resentment; the unenforceable nature of the presumably corrective measures suggested by the American administration; and the damage the incident has done in displaying US law as arbitrary, some are holding the incident up as an indication of the inexperience of the Trump team — the SecState in particular. A concern-in-point is the law prohibiting American aid to entities found on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations and whether it will be similarly suspended to accommodate either Hamas or Hizbullah.