The Palestinians are extremely upset by the Donald Trump administration’s decision to cut $200 million in aid they get from the United States. A small part of this aid budget is designated for the Palestinian Authority (PA) itself — specifically for security coordination with Israel. Most, however, is funneled by USAID — the US State Department’s foreign aid arm — directly to Palestinian and international projects for infrastructure and agricultural and industrial development in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The US administration is hoping that the aid cut will force the Palestinian leadership to stop paying the families of Palestinians jailed in Israel for security-related offenses or those killed in terror attacks against Israelis; Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has pledged, however, that he would not cut these expenditures even if "we are left with one penny." The administration also hopes, in vain, that a blow to its coffers would force the PA to renew the ties it severed with Washington over the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May. The Palestinians will not put up with anything resembling a sellout of their principles.
