Massive U.S. Cuts To Palestinian Aid Affecting Food Supply, Sewage
Image by Getty Images
By Ron Kampeas January 23, 2019
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Reports of rollbacks in Palestinian aid projects are emerging as massive cuts in U.S. aid to the Palestinians kick in.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that up to 90,000 Palestinians will not get food aid in programs that are administered by nongovernmental organizations funded by U.S. assistance.
NPR reported last week that a major sewage project in Jericho, near completion, will be discarded, and that a school planned for the Bethlehem area also will be abandoned. The U.S. Agency for International Development will sack most of its staff in the region, NPR said.
Legislation that passed last year mandates massive cuts — estimated at more than $200 million — to the Palestinians until they stop recompensing the families of Palestinians who have attacked Israelis. President Trump has authorized additional cuts, including to UNRWA, the United Nations agency that administers to Palestinians and their descendants.
In addition, according to separate legislation passed, the Palestinian Authority accepting U.S. assistance would trigger liability for hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. court decisions in favor of families of victims of terrorist acts. As a result, the Palestinian Authority recently declined the aid, NPR reported, in order not to be liable for the money the courts awarded to the Palestinians.
The Daily Beast reported Tuesday that the legislation triggering liability inadvertently affects U.S. funding for Palestinian security forces, which Israel considers critical in keeping the peace in the West Bank. Lawmakers are scrambling to amend the legislation to allow a cutout for assistance to the Palestinian security force, the report said, but have been stymied by the monthlong U.S. government shutdown.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
