WASHINGTON, Dec 12: President George Bush on Friday retained a restriction on the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a diplomatic channel used by the Palestinian Authority in the United States, charging that the Palestinian Authority violated its pledge not to engage in terrorism, but he also suspended any sanctions against the organization.

In a memo sent to Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday evening, the president said he was downgrading the “status of the PLO office in the United States” under Foreign Relations Authorization Act.

The action is valid for a period of 180 days.

But the US president also determined: “It is in the national security interest of the United States to waive (the) sanction,” required under the same act.

The first such determination came in December 2002, after months of discussion between the State Department and Congress over how to respond to certain actions taken by the Palestinian Authority, which were considered inconsistent with the US-backed peace initiatives in the Middle East.

US officials say last year’s decision was also influenced by certain documents Israel had sent to the United States about the activities of the Palestinian Authority and the mainstream al-Fatah movement.

The documents claimed that the Palestinian Authority was funding several groups that attacked Israeli civilians and were opposed to U.S. peace objectives in the Middle East.

Israeli authorities say they captured the documents during their prolonged occupation of the West Bank in April last year.

US authorities said the Palestinian Authority had not changed its policy of supporting groups that terrorize Israeli citizens, sources said.