JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, Ambassador
John Bolton gave his first
official speech as President

Trump's national
security adviser.

Bolton spoke to the Federalist
Society, the conservative
and libertarian organization.

And he took aim at the
International Criminal Court.

But Bolton also
targeted the Palestine
Liberation Organization.

And he announced the closure
the PLO's office in Washington.

Our foreign affairs
correspondent, Nick
Schifrin, was in the room.

And he joins us now.

So, Nick, why are they
closing the PLO office?

NICK SCHIFRIN: The main reason
that Ambassador Bolton and the
State Department said today

was Palestinians' use
of the International
Criminal Court, the ICC.

The ICC is based in The
Hague and is designed to
tackle some of humanity's
toughest challenges,

war crimes, crimes
against humanity.

The Palestinians have said
that they would go to the ICC
over Israeli settlements in

the West Bank, over seizure
of Israeli property,
over what Palestinian
officials call Israelis'

use of force inside
of the West Bank.

That's number one.

Number two reason why
the U.S. says that it's
closing the PLO office here
is that the Palestinians

aren't being helpful
when it comes to peace
talks and peace efforts.

Jason Greenblatt and Jared
Kushner, the two advisers to
President Trump who are creating

a peace plan, the Palestinians
have refused to meet them since
the U.S. moved the embassy

from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
a few months ago.

And they have also been
disparaging some of the
work that the two of
them have done, even

though that work isn't done.

And so what you heard Bolton
say today is that, one, the
ICC, the International Criminal

Court, shouldn't be
investigating what he
called Israeli housing
projects, not settlements,

and, two, that the -- that the
office here in Washington had
blocked efforts toward peace.

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. National
Security Adviser: The Trump
administration will not keep the

office open when the
Palestinians refuse
to take steps to start
direct and meaningful

negotiations with Israel.

The United States supports a
direct and robust peace process.

And we will not allow the ICC
or any other organization to
constrain Israel's right to

self-defense.

NICK SCHIFRIN: I talked to
Ambassador Husam Zomlot, the
ambassador to the U.S. for the

Palestinians.

He said: Look, this is not
going to change our behavior.

We are going to take
the Israelis to the ICC.

And we're going to continue
not to help Jared Kushner and
Jason Greenblatt's peace effort.

And he later released
a statement, saying:
"We stand firm in our
decision not to cooperate

in this ongoing campaign to
liquidate our rights and cause.

Our rights or not for sale.

We will block any attempts at
booing and blackmailing us."

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Nick, this
reveals not just frustration
about what's going on right

now, but longstanding
frustrations with
the Palestinians.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Longstanding
frustrations and real
frustrations with the
Trump administration

over the last few months, one,
the move of the embassy from
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and

President Trump saying, well,
we took Jerusalem off the table.

Palestinians, of course, want
Jerusalem, East Jerusalem
as a future capital.

Number two, $200 million in
humanitarian aid being canceled
by the U.S. administration

that went to things like
hospitals in East Jerusalem
that provided cancer treatment,

for example.

The Palestinian Authority can't
provide that treatment, and
those hospitals have lost that

money.

And, number three, $300 million
for UNRWA, the U.N. agency that
helps Palestinian refugees,

again, providing schools,
health care, things that no one
else in the West Bank or Gaza

can provide.

Now, U.S. and Israel say that
those UNRWA schools, those
U.N. schools, were being used

by Hamas to house rockets, and
also that that organization was
kind of skewing the definition

of a refugee.

In the past, the U.S. has
provided aid and separately
hoped for a political solution.

Palestinians believe that this
is the U.S. taking away aid
to blackmail them and force

them toward a
political solution.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So where
does this negotiation stand?

We haven't seen any
peace plan, have we?

NICK SCHIFRIN: We have
not seen any peace plan.

U.S. officials are hoping
to release something
by the end of the year.

And they describe a
different approach.

Rather than a blueprint for
talks, negotiation between two
sides, they really are going to

release a robust,
significant long peace plan.

And a lot of it has to do
with economic incentives
for the Palestinians,
rather necessarily than

answering every
Palestinian grievance.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So you were
saying that Bolton spent
most of his time talking
about the International

Criminal Court, the ICC.

What is this --
what's behind this?

NICK SCHIFRIN: This is part
of John Bolton's world view.

It really is, that states are
the most important body in the
international arena, and states

should never give up
any sovereignty ever,
especially to any kind of
international organization.

And the way to have influence in
the world is not through allies.

It's not through alliances.

It's not through influence
and multilateral institutions,
but, as he put it today, power.

JOHN BOLTON: The hard men of
history or not deterred by
fantasies of international law,

such as the ICC.

Time and again, history has
proven that the only deterrent
to evil and atrocity is what

Franklin Roosevelt once called
the righteous might of the
United States and its allies.

JUDY WOODRUFF:
That's pretty direct.

So how does that
play out in policy?

NICK SCHIFRIN: It hasn't
changed policy dramatically yet.

But we are seeing Bolton's
ideology play out across the
administration's foreign policy

priorities, threatening
the use of force against
Syrian President Assad
and his ally Russia

if there's another chemical
weapons attack inside of Syria,
threatening European countries,

European allies, if they
try and help Iran, basically
calling their bluff, saying that

they don't have the military,
economic or political way to
convince Iran to stay inside

the nuclear deal.

And in North Korea.

North Korea needs to give up all
of its nuclear weapons before
the U.S. gives in very much.

That is Bolton's philosophy.

North Korea and, frankly,
South Korean officials say:
That's not how it should work.

We will take steps
if you take steps.

That's what the Koreans say.

That's not a philosophy
that John Bolton adheres to.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Nick
Schifrin, we thank you.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thank you.