Trump budget holds Palestinian aid hostage to progress on peace plan
The Donald Trump administration is doubling down on its bid to cut Palestinian aid by tying it to congressional funding for the president’s Middle East peace plan.
The Donald Trump administration is using Palestinian security aid as leverage in a gambit to convince Congress to fund its recently unveiled Middle East peace plan.
The State Department’s 2021 budget request, released today, would zero out all aid for the West Bank and Gaza for the first time since President Trump took office. Trump first eliminated Palestinian economic and humanitarian aid in 2018, but the 2021 budget request would condition the remaining security assistance on $200 million in funding for his Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, dubbed the Diplomatic Progress Fund.
Instead of directly funding Palestinian security aid, the budget designates $25 million within the Diplomatic Progress Fund as security assistance. The document notes that the security aid can be used “to support critical diplomatic efforts that may emerge in the future, such as progress on a plan for Middle East peace.”
Congress rebuffed the State Department’s $175 million funding request for the Diplomatic Progress Fund last year. Instead lawmakers opted to restore $150 million in Palestinian aid, including $75 million in security assistance.
