Netanyahu Enraged: US to Provide More Than $150 Million in Aid to Palestinians, Blinken Says

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SN/Moscow: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an ongoing one that began in the mid-20th century. As a result of the conflict, at least 5.6 million Palestinians have become displaced refugees, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday announced that the US will provide more than $150 million in aid to a United Nations program for Palestinian refugees, formally called the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).



The funding would include humanitarian assistance and economic development programs for Palestinians. Specifically, the plan calls for $150 million through the UNRWA, $75 million in US economic support and $10 million in development funding, according to Reuters.

The UNRWA provides education, food, healthcare and business loan programs to the more than 5.6 million Palestinian refugees spread across regions including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The latest decision by the Joe Biden administration reverses a former Trump-era policy that cut off assistance to the agency. Former US President Donald Trump eliminated support for the humanitarian program in 2018, a decision that was applauded at the time by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Relations between Palestinians and the US deteriorated during the previous administration, after Trump in 2018 decided to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there.


The United States is pleased to announce that, working with Congress, we plan to restart U.S. economic, development, and humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people.  This includes $75 million in economic and development assistance in the West Bank and Gaza, $10 million for peacebuilding programs through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and $150 million in humanitarian assistance for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).  We are also resuming vital security assistance programs.  All assistance will be provided consistent with U.S. law.  Economic assistance includes support for small and medium enterprises’ recovery from the effects of COVID-19; support for needy households to access basic human needs, such as food and clean water; and assistance for Palestinian civil society.  A portion of this funding will support the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, as it continues to provide necessary and life-saving treatments to Palestinians.  This funding is in addition to the $15 million in humanitarian assistance to address the COVID-19 pandemic and food insecurity the United States announced in March.

The United States is resuming support for UNRWA’s services, including education for over 500,000 Palestinian boys and girls, thereby providing hope and stability in UNRWA’s five fields of operation in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  Funding to UNRWA also provides critical COVID-19 assistance, including healthcare, medicine, and medical supplies, as well as cash and food assistance to families severely impacted by COVID-19.  The United States is deeply committed to ensuring that our partnership with UNRWA promotes neutrality, accountability, and transparency.  As with all of our engagements with UN institutions, the United States needs to be at the table to ensure that the reforms advance efficiencies and are in accord with our interests and values.

U.S. foreign assistance for the Palestinian people serves important U.S. interests and values. It provides critical relief to those in great need, fosters economic development, and supports Israeli-Palestinian understanding, security coordination and stability.  It also aligns with the values and interests of our allies and partners.  The United States is committed to advancing prosperity, security, and freedom for both Israelis and Palestinians in tangible ways in the immediate term, which is important in its own right, but also as a means to advance towards a negotiated two-state solution.

The United States encourages other donors to support programs and activities that work toward a common goal of stability and progress for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. F Netanyahoo….that is less than 10 days of welfare given to Israhell. AND IT IS BORROWED MONEY THAT US CITIZENS WILL PAY INTEREST ON FOR DECADES?

  2. The krrrap packed inside a rotten child’s brain is so foul that they can’t see the full picture. Every eye rainy inn knows that the 20% interest paid by their central bank on deposits is a roi that is not taxed a second time like the rotten buying it at 1/2% and selling it at 30 keeping it all.

    They put the money to real production instead of putting it to speculation.

    The old satraps of Iran back 3000 years ago were overseeing the same system of wealth management that the rotten children have abused because they can’t control their greed so they have to control the bullhorn to confuse people and cover that.

    Imagine the ones that are not rotten making up their community in Iran …

  3. About the cost of {2} F-35’s at todays lowered and cost cut price, not including the R and D.

    If we were serious about human rights and stood for democracy and anti-apartheid principles, we would be defending the Palestinians with everything we have, not a paltry 150 mill. And we would be honoring our treaties within our own lands.

    How much do we spend on 5 eyes ? Stuff we share with a single monarch , which we are founded as opposition to, by the very principle ? To that exact and ongoing monarchy ?

    Spineless leadership never makes progress.

  4. What a waste of money. Their leaders will make themselves rich, the people will starve and they will trade the aid for weapons. A people should know when they are conquered. They have had the option of a two state solution since the 90’s and their leaders have refused. The only thing left to do is mow them down or drive them out.

    • Lol. The only thing conquered is the corruption channels of ziolandistan to the US Congress. Otherwise $10 million for peacebuilding programs through the US is a good start for the disinfection of Washington.
      Israel has the right to exit. The exist was a typo.

    • Israel has existed for 70 years. Do you think anything is going to make it disappear? Yes, the US is ran by others, you can say the Z’s, I say Rome is behind them, it is a central banking empire, Based on continual taxation and the love of money. The Palestinians are suffering needlessly because of bad leadership that keeps selling them a dream that Is not based at all in reality.

    • The best part of your hasbara is when you know that the filth called occupiers are leaving in droves but pretend that’s it’s the other way around.
      The ones with a brain are exiting en masse so it’s a classic case of brain drain ..

  5. First of all we (the countries of UNO) need to protect Palestinians from Israel’s aggression. Money for them is ok, of course. But the policy is the armor piercing shell of financial interests.

  6. It is uplifting to have competent people in charge of the Executive Branch again. Antony Blinken is orders of magnitude more qualified as US Secretary of State than was villainous and pompous Pompeo.

    • I’ll get there, David. For now, still in the honeymoon, and ecstatic about the crash and burn of Trump and the GOP.

    • And you know what the best part is ? The stock market strength is not based on speculations of wars, the rotten republican way. But rather on trillions of dollars to be spent in real production.

Comments are closed.