WASHINGTON — The Biden administration
announced on Wednesday it would provide $235 million in US aid to the
Palestinians, restarting funding for the United Nations agency supporting
refugees and restoring other assistance cut off by then-president Donald Trump.
اضافة اعلان
The package, including humanitarian, economic, and
development assistance, was detailed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as
part of an effort to repair American ties with the Palestinians that all but
collapsed during Trump’s tenure.
It marked Democratic President Joe Biden’s most
significant move since taking office on January 20 to make good on his promise
to roll back some components of his Republican predecessor’s approach that
Palestinians denounced as heavily biased in favor of Israel.
The plan calls for $150 million through the United
Nations relief agency UNRWA, $75 million in US economic and development
assistance and $10 million for peace-building programs, Blinken said in a
statement.
Biden’s aides have also signaled that they want to
re-establish the goal of a negotiated two-state solution as a priority in US
policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But they have moved cautiously so far, and any major
steps are likely to wait for the dust to clear after Israel’s inconclusive
March election, which will be followed by Palestinian elections scheduled in
coming months.
The Trump administration blocked nearly all aid after it
severed ties with the Palestinian Authority in 2018. The move was widely seen
as an attempt to force the Palestinians to negotiate with Israel on terms the
Palestinian leadership branded as an effort to deny them a viable state.
The cuts came after Palestinian leaders decided to
boycott the Trump administration’s peace efforts over its decision to recognize
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv,
upending decades of American policy.
This included rescinding funding for the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides aid and relief services to
around 5.7 million registered Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank,
Gaza Strip, and across the Middle East.
UNRWA
“The United States is pleased to announce that, working
with Congress, we plan to restart US economic, development, and humanitarian
assistance for the Palestinian people,” Blinken said.
Ahmed Abu Huly, a member of the Executive Committee of
the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said he would be holding a Zoom
meeting with US State Department official Richard Albright to express
appreciation for the “very important support” and said he hoped it would
continue.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said: “In
respect to UNRWA, Israel’s position is that the organization in its present
form perpetuates the conflict rather than helping to resolve it. Therefore, the
renewal of assistance to UNRWA must be accompanied by substantial and vital
changes to its nature, goals and organizational conduct.”
The United Nations welcomed the restart of UNRWA
funding. “There were a number of countries that had greatly reduced to halted
contributions to UNRWA. We hope that the American decision will lead others to
rejoin ... as UNRWA donors,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told
Reuters the new funding was “extremely welcome” but said it was also important
to have the United States back as “strategic partners” politically.
Blinken said the United States was also “resuming vital
security assistance programs” with the Palestinians but did not elaborate.
However, the administration is likely to hold back for
now on resuming direct economic aid to the Palestinian Authority while Biden’s
aides consult with Congress on potential legal obstacles, according to one
person familiar with the matter. The notice to Congress assured lawmakers that
all assistance would be consistent with US law.
The money that will go to UNRWA does not immediately
restore contributions to the $365 million level that the United States gave to
the agency in 2017.
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