OFAC Imposes Embargo on Palestinian Authority
On April 12, 2006, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on the Palestinian Authority. Hamas, which now holds the majority of seats on the Palestinian Authority's Legislative Council, has been designated a terrorist entity whose property and interests in property are blocked under three separate OFAC-administered economic sanctions programs. As a result, U.S. persons (i.e., individuals and corporations) are prohibited from engaging in transactions with the Palestinian Authority unless authorized by general or specific license. In addition, U.S. persons may not transfer, pay, withdraw, export or otherwise deal in any assets in which the Palestinian Authority has an interest unless authorized. OFAC also issued the following six general licenses authorizing the following limited transactions by U.S. persons with the Palestinian Authority:
General License 1 - Official activities of certain international organizations; U.S. person employees of certain governments.
General License 2 - Travel, employment, residence and maintenance transactions with the Palestinian Authority.
General License 3 - Payment of taxes and incidental fees to the Palestinian Authority.
General License 4 - Transactions with entities under the control of the Palestinian President and certain other entities.
General License 5 - Concluding activities with the Palestinian Authority.
General License 6 - In-kind donations of medicine.
General License 4 issued by OFAC requires U.S. financial institutions to reject transactions with members of the Palestinian Authority's Legislative Council that are members of Hamas. While such individuals will not be included on OFAC's list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List), OFAC has issued a separate Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) list, which contains the name of such persons. These new restrictions on the Palestinian Authority do not prohibit general transactions between U.S. persons and non-governmental entities within the West Bank or Gaza and do not prohibit transactions with private sector banks within the region.
Labels: OFAC
|posted by Douglas N. Jacobson| Permalink 
