US Plans to Give More than $360 Million in ‘Urgent Support’ to the Palestinians
Blinken also announces reopening of Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem over Israeli objections
Criss-crossing the Middle East this week after the 11 days of rocket attacks and air strikes, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken came bearing lifelines for the Palestinians, who are in the midst of recovering from a grave humanitarian situation in Gaza.
This month's round of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians have left more than 70,000 Palestinians — mostly children — displaced while leveling infrastructure in the region, leaving necessities like water and sanitation in short supply.
In the Middle East, Blinken praised the current cease-fire, for allowing the United States to refocus on the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people.
The American secretary of state met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“I informed President Abbas and earlier Prime Minister Netanyahu that the United States will notify Congress of our intention to provide $75 million in additional development and economic assistance for the Palestinians in 2021. We'll also provide $5.5 million dollars in immediate disaster assistance for Gaza and little over $32 million for emergency humanitarian appeal," Blinken said. "This new assistance comes on top of significant support that the United States has recently committed and resumed to the Palestinian authority, to Palestinians, to different agencies and groups. In total, we’re in the process of providing more than $360 million in urgent support for Palestinian people.”
The US funds would aid the Palestinians without going through Hamas, which wields political control among Palestinians but has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.
Blinken said that Hamas “has brought nothing but ruin to the Palestinian people.”
“It’s vitally important that Palestinians feel hope and have opportunity, and can live in security just as it is for Israelis, and there should be equal measures,” he added.
The secretary of state also announced that the United States would reopen its consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.
The consulate for Palestinians was closed under the Trump administration, after the United States moved its official embassy to Jerusalem once the Trump administration recognized that as the Israeli capital. Since then, affairs for Palestinians have been carried out by a Palestinian section in the US Embassy to Israel.
Blinken told Netanyahu of the reopening plan ahead of the public announcement, as the Israeli government opposes reopening the consulate for another entity in Jerusalem, which Israel considers its capital.
"And as, I told the Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas, the United States will be moving forward with the process to reopen our consulate in Jerusalem. That’s an important way for -- for our country to engage with and provide support to the Palestinian people," Blinken said.