The Trump administration requested in its 2020 budget proposal, released on Monday, that the United States continue not to give any taxpayer assistance to the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria and Gaza.
By JNS.org and United with Israel Staff
In the past few years, the Trump administration has cut off U.S. assistance to the Palestinians through enacting measures such as the Taylor Force Act and the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act, the former of which requires Palestinians to stop paying salaries to terrorists and the families of criminals killed while committing terror offenses or forfeit U.S. aid.
The United States cut funding to the Palestinians’ dedicated United Nations agency (UNRWA) in August.
The administration requested that American assistance to Israel remain at $3.3 billion.
In 2018, the State Department announced that the U.S., which was formerly the largest contributor to UNRWA at $350 million in annual aid, would make no additional contributions to the agency.
“We totally reject and condemn this American decision,” responded Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
UNRWA had faced accusations for years of exacerbating, not solving, the Palestinian “refugee” issue and the curriculum in the schools it sponsored promoted terrorism and violence against Israeli civilians, instead of peace.