WASHINGTON – The administration of US President
Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that it has ended
security funding and training to the Palestinian
Authority, claiming that Ramallah itself had requested
that the aid be cut in order to circumvent the
jurisdiction of US courts.
Already in December, Palestinian Authority Prime
Minister Rami Hamdallah informed the Trump
administration that the Palestinians would no longer
accept any US financial assistance, most of which
had already been cut off, save for the security
funds. PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat repeated
that position on Thursday.
A US official confirmed that the era of US
financial assistance to the PA has ended. Only the
USSC mission that works with the Palestinian
security forces will remain, but it will have only
an advisory role, which would not involve funding to
the authority.
“As of February 1, at the request of the
Palestinian Authority, the United States ceased
providing any assistance under the authorities
specified in ATCA, in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and
Jordan,” the official said on Friday.
The Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act, a
bipartisan-supported law passed in October, is a
“carefully balanced approach to better ensure
victims’ access to compensation, and hold supporters
of terrorism accountable,” according to its
principal author, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
“All USAID assistance in the West Bank and Gaza
has ceased,” the official said. “So has US security
assistance to the Palestinian Authority coming from
the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement
(INL) funding stream.
“The US Security Coordinator and his team
continue to conduct a security cooperation-only
mission. The USSC’s train and equip activities
supported by the INL funding stream have ceased,”
the official said.
Jason Greenblatt, a senior adviser to Trump and
the administration’s point man on the Middle East
peace process, slammed PA officials via Twitter on
Friday for shedding what he characterized as
crocodile tears on the loss of aid. A spokesman for
PA President Mahmoud Abbas responded to the aid cut
by claiming it would “have a negative impact on all,
create a negative atmosphere and increase
instability.”
“Disingenuous,” Greenblatt tweeted in response.
“This aid was cut (not just suspended) at the PA’s
request because they didn’t want to be subject to US
courts which would require them to pay US citizens
killed by Palestinian terrorists when the PA was
found guilty.”
“The PA has money for health/education– but must
use their money wisely,” he continued. “Example:
Stop rewarding terrorists who kill Israelis. That
will save the PA a fortune. They can also work with
the US and others to help improve their economy and
need even less foreign aid.”
Democratic aides on Capitol Hill confirmed to The
Jerusalem Post that Palestinian officials had denied
overtures for a resolution to the crisis, preferring
an aid cut to potential legal exposure and the press
that would follow.
“There is an active effort to try and preserve
the security cooperation funds from both sides, but
with varying approaches,” one congressional aide
working on the matter told the Post. “There was an
effort to get it in the year-end omnibus [spending
bill], which obviously failed.”
The aide explained that a renewal of aide would
have to come either in the form of an independent,
bipartisan agreement, or an attachment to must-pass
legislation, such as the upcoming spending bill.
Israel has been particularly concerned that the
end of US funding for Palestinian security services
would impact IDF-Palestinian security coordination.
Although both security services have direct lines of
communication, the USSC mission had also acted as a
liaison. It’s presumed that it would continue to do
so in its new advisory role.
But Israel’s call for continued US funding has
maintained bipartisan support.
“There’s a widespread acknowledgment that it is
not in anyone’s interest to see security cooperation
end – it’s a question of how to proceed,” the aide
added.
A State Department official said that the
government was beginning to roll back operations
affected by the aid cut, but another source said
that the administration remains open to
re-instituting the program with PA cooperation.
That, at the moment, does not seem to be in the
offing. Greenblatt quipped that aides to both Trump
and Abbas are indeed communicating, after over a
year of frozen ties following Trump’s recognition of
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“The only difference now is that we are speaking
about these matters in public via Twitter,”
Greenblatt said, “so the public can understand
everyone’s positions. Transparency is better for
all.”