World Bulletin / News Desk

Closing the Palestine Liberation Organization's office in Washington DC would harm the U.S. efforts to calm tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, a senior official said Tuesday. 

"We believe the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] is an important partner, and as the official representative body of the Palestinian people before the international community, the PLO has a role to play in our efforts to advance a two-state solution," said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau Tuesday.

On Monday, dozens of Republican senators, including Ted Cruz sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry calling the administration to close the PLO office in the U.S. capital. 

The lawmakers claimed that the reason for their call was Palestine's continued incitement of violence against Israel. 

Ted Cruz is running to become the Republican candidate in the 2016 presidential election.