I have now seen in numerous places a report that the United States has resumed financial aid to the Palestinian Authority. This aid was stopped by Congress last December when the PA sought recognition at the UN despite its agreements not to do so except as part of a negotiated deal with Israel. President Obama had warned the PA that there would be consequences to its violation of its agreements, and the aid cutoff was essentially the only action taken by the USA. Late Friday, however, Victoria Nuland of the State Department announced resumption of aid which will total about half a billion dollars at first.
Some of the reports lament the fact that our president is willing to shut down White House tours for Americans and to close air control towers to make sequestration look worse than it is, but he is not willing to keep half a billion dollars in money from going to the Palestinians. After all, the bulk of American aid to the Palestinians over the years wound up in the bank accounts of the leaders of the PLO rather than as help to the Palestinian people. Suha Arafat, the widow of Yassir Arafat, lives as a billionaire in France on funds that her late husband stole out of aid money.
My concern, however, is a different one. The aid was cut off by act of Congress. How could it just be restored by an announcement from the State Department? There has to be more. At a minimum, the must have been some sort of certification by the president about the PA that allows the resumption of aid. Of course, there is no news of any such thing at all. This requires further investigation.
Some of the reports lament the fact that our president is willing to shut down White House tours for Americans and to close air control towers to make sequestration look worse than it is, but he is not willing to keep half a billion dollars in money from going to the Palestinians. After all, the bulk of American aid to the Palestinians over the years wound up in the bank accounts of the leaders of the PLO rather than as help to the Palestinian people. Suha Arafat, the widow of Yassir Arafat, lives as a billionaire in France on funds that her late husband stole out of aid money.
My concern, however, is a different one. The aid was cut off by act of Congress. How could it just be restored by an announcement from the State Department? There has to be more. At a minimum, the must have been some sort of certification by the president about the PA that allows the resumption of aid. Of course, there is no news of any such thing at all. This requires further investigation.
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