GOP blocks Trump administration’s bid to save Palestinian aid
The Donald Trump administration has pushed Congress to preserve Palestinian security aid only to find resistance from the president’s Republican allies.
The State Department is seeking $35 million in security aid for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the 2020 budget proposal released this week.
But first, it needs Congress to rewrite a new law that has inadvertently choked off all aid to the West Bank and Gaza, including programs favored by Israel. So far, Republicans aren’t budging.
Al-Monitor has learned that the State Department has reached a negotiating impasse with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the author of the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act, which Congress passed last year.
The law requires the PA to submit to the US judicial system as a condition for accepting US aid, potentially rendering it liable for as much as $656 million in terrorism-related judgments. As a result, the PA terminated all security, humanitarian and economic assistance programs with the United States in January.
