Biden restores $250m in aid to Palestine cut under Trump administration

The Biden administration is re-engaging with the Palestinians by restoring US humanitarian and development aid which was cancelled in early 2018 by former president Donald Trump when the Palestinian Authority cut ties with the United States after he recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The fate of Jerusalem is meant to be decided in negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis rather than external intervention.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken explained the administration's reversion to pre-Trump policy by saying, "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."

Trump also rejected this option, which involves the emergence of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

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Re-engagement began last month with the pledge of $15 million (€12.6 million) to help the Palestinians battle coronavirus and was followed by the announcement by Blinken of a US donation of $150 million to the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), $75 million in economic and development assistance, and $10 million for peacebuilding programmes.

Unrwa

The $250 million total is, however, far below the $565 million provided yearly by the US before Trump's abandonment of the Palestinians. The Biden administration's contribution to Unrwa is less than one-third of the pre-Trump annual sum, which was more than $360 million, one-third of the budget of the agency, which cares for 5.7 million Palestinian refugees in the Israeli-occupied territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Trump’s abrupt halt of funding for Unrwa plunged the agency into a major financial crisis, forcing it to cut staff and services and scramble for new donors and increased donations from longstanding contributors.

Pre-Trump, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) also funded projects in the West Bank and Gaza worth $200 million a year, more than twice the total of $85 million proposed by the Biden administration.

Due to Trump’s cancellation of all US humanitarian and development funding, $1.63 billion in funding was lost over three years at a time when the Palestinians as a people were politically marginalised and battered by the pandemic. While Israel has cared for and vaccinated its population, it has refused to provide healthcare and inoculate the five million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza; the UN says this is in violation of its obligation as occupying power.

In the only area in which Trump continued to request funding for the Palestinians, security co-operation with Israel, the Biden administration has asked Congress to raise the appropriation from $12 million to $40 million. This is a sum which Israel will welcome, although it has rejected US resumption of humanitarian and development aid for Palestinians.