  The amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act, the
Pentagon budget bill, were removed before a voice vote that
approved over 120 other amendments on Tuesday night.  The
amendments, numbers 3139, 3203 and 3254, would have cut by 50
percent US funding for the PA and UN bodies that granted the PA
the status change voted on last Thursday; slashed 20% of US
foreign assistance to the 138 countries that voted for the
status change; shut the Palestine Liberation Organization office
in Washington; ended all US assistance to the Palestinian
Authority if it sought to drag Israel before the International
Criminal Court; and canceled all US funding for the United
Nations if the world body instituted any status change for
Palestine before the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement
with Israel.  “Granting United Nations membership to the
Palestinian Authority is a nightmare in the making for the peace
process and future relations between the Congress and UN,” said
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from S