U.S. official says suspension aid to Palestinians ineffective
Washington (QNN)- Spokesperson for the United States Department of State said that the Trump administration’s suspension of aid to the Palestinians had failed to produce results and reiterated the new American leadership’s intention to restore such financial assistance.
“The suspension of aid to the Palestinian people has neither produced political progress, nor secured concessions from the Palestinian leadership. It has only harmed innocent Palestinians,” Ned Price said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
He added, “The US will reinvigorate our humanitarian leadership and work to galvanize the international community to meet its humanitarian obligations, including to the Palestinian people. This is something we’re working on very quickly to restore and announced.”
Price also referred to the speech given by the US Ambassador to the UN Richard Mills, who said the Biden administration was renewing US relations with the Palestinian leadership, and restoring “credible engagement” with the Palestinians, as it works toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The Biden administration will restore credible US engagement with Palestinians as well as Israelis. This will involve renewing US relations with the Palestinian leadership and Palestinian people, relations which have atrophied over the last four years,” he said.
He added, “President Biden has been clear in his intent to restore US assistance programs that support economic development and humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people.”
In 2018, the Trump administration had cut financial aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), a UN body that supports more than 5 million Palestinian refugees, and also slashed an aid of more than $200 million to Palestine in the same year.
