US resumes economic aid to Palestinians

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Following the Trump administration’s almost total freeze on aid to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (which supports Palestinians living in refugee camps), the US government announced Wednesday that it is officially resuming $150 million in economic aid to UNRWA.

In 2018, the Trump administration blocked the aid normally given to UNRWA, arguing that the organization is biased against Israel and helps to perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Relations between the US and the Palestinian leadership subsequently broke down, also because of Palestinian objections to the Trump peace plan.

The Biden administration’s reversal of Trump’s policy includes not only funding for UNRWA, which provides educational and medical structures for Palestinians in refugee camps across the region, but also $75 million in aid to the West Bank and Gaza, $10 million for peace programs through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and $40 million in security funding, the Times of Israel reports.

“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,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh welcomed the US announcement saying: “We look forward not only to the resumption of American financial aid despite its importance, but also to the return of political relations with the United States in a way that realizes our people’s legitimate rights.”

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