U.S. lawmakers are preparing responses to last week’s U.N. diplomatic gambit by the Palestinian Authority, which saw the organization defy President Obama and undermine U.S. diplomacy by unilaterally seeking a declaration of non-member statehood via the U.N. and outside of bilateral negotiations with Israel. The Senate is preparing legislation that would restrict aid to the Palestinian Authority if it exploited its upgraded status to wage legal warfare against Israel in international institutions, and to at least temporarily shutter the PLO’s offices in Washington, D.C. House leaders also targeted the U.N., and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called on Congress to impose “severe economic consequences.”

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