10 November 2010

United States Gives $150 Million to Palestinians

Secretary Clinton announces the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority during a videoconference with Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad, seen on a video monitor.

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — The United States has provided an additional $150 million in direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority to pay down its debt and to continue providing services and security in the West Bank and Gaza territories.

At a November 10 press briefing, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that these funds bring direct budget assistance to $225 million for 2010, and overall support and investment to nearly $600 million for the year.

“This figure underscores the strong determination of the American people and this administration to stand with our Palestinian friends even during difficult economic times,” Clinton told reporters during a joint videoconference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

“It will support our work together to expand Palestinians’ access to schools, clinics and clean drinking water in both the West Bank and Gaza,” she said. The assistance will also be used to help pay for modernizing courthouses and police stations, training judges and prosecutors and launching new economic development initiatives, she added.

Strict safeguards have been initiated to ensure that the U.S. budget assistance will be used for the purposes intended, Clinton told reporters.

The United States, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund monitor the use of donor funds in the territories, and there is complete confidence that the Palestinian Authority will provide accountability and openness, she added.

Fayyad thanked the United States for the additional assistance and said that the budget support was what the Palestinian Authority needed the most at the moment as it helps meet the duties, obligations and responsibilities of providing for the Palestinian people.

“It also is highly responsive to our needs in the terms of its timeliness,” Fayyad said. He added that since the inception of the Palestinian Authority over the period 1994 through 2010, the United States has provided $3.5 billion in assistance.

During the opening of the U.N. General Assembly in September, Fayyad had asked donors for approximately $500 million to help close a budget deficit this year. On November 4, the European Union gave 20.7 million euros ($28.5 million).

WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS

Clinton told reporters at the briefing that the United States was “deeply disappointed by the announcement of advance planning for new housing units in sensitive areas of East Jerusalem.”

The announcement, she added, is counterproductive to efforts currently under way to resume stalled peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Clinton is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on November 11, and the settlements issue is expected to be discussed. The Israelis earlier announced plans to build 1,300 new units in East Jerusalem and 800 more housing units in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Nevertheless, Clinton told reporters, the United States will continue to work to resume the talks.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)