USAID to Close
Doors in West Bank and Gaza in Early 2019
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Latest News Biblical perspective
By JNS December 13, 2018 , 12:23 pm
Blow a trumpet in
Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land
tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near. Joel 2:1 (The Israel
Bible™)
USAID administrator Mark Green. (Credit:
USAID/Screenshot)
The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development
confirmed on Wednesday reports that
USAID will close its doors in the West Bank and Gaza by early 2019.
“We have strict guidelines on who we work with, and
that’s simply not just what we do, but across the U.S. government,” said USAID
administrator Mark Green told.
Without elaborating, he continued: “[There] are guidelines that
we follow.”
“We follow administration policy,” added Green.
This comes as the Trump administration is reportedly
trying to save remaining U.S. funding towards the Palestinian Authority,
most of which was cut off through the enactment of the Taylor Force Act, as the
Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act would, barring changes, cut
off security assistance to the P.A.
The law, signed into law in October and scheduled to take
effect in January, provides protections for American victims of
international terrorism.
When asked by JNS on Tuesday about this apparent
development, U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino had no
comment.
“The broader point here is that cuts to Palestinian
security could have a dilatory effect on Israeli security,” said Jonathan
Schanzer, senior vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense
of Democracies. “It’s one of the few positive points to note in what is
otherwise a very fraught relationship. The Palestinians and Israelis have been
working closely to counter the activities of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
and other terrorist organizations.”
“They’ve done a good job,” he continued. “Cutting
Palestinian assistance in this space in particular, I think, strikes many, even
those who are hawkish, as problematic.”
However, the civil-rights nongovernmental
organization Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center called for the funds to be cut off
as planned.
“The State Department currently oversees more than a
dozen programs that benefit the P.A., including training, construction and
provision of equipment,” it said. “The P.A. relies on these programs for
its own security. The State Department is arguing that the P.A. will cut
off all these programs and existing ties with the U.S. if Congress does not
delay the law.”
“Congress should do no such thing. Congress made a
simple policy decision,” the NGO continued. “If the P.A. wants American
assistance, it has to do so on the understanding that it will be held
accountable for terror attacks that took American lives and caused severe
injuries.”
New York-based hedge-fund manager Sander Gerber, who
was instrumental in the passage of the Taylor Force Act,
echoed Shurat HaDin’s sentiment.
“The [1992 Anti-Terrorism Act] law highlights the moral
absurdity of the status quo,” he said.
“The P.A. fights against certain terror organizations,
but still proudly pays $350 million per year to civilians and their families
who kill Israelis,” he continued. “Victims deserve compensation from the
P.A. more than their murderers. I hope the Congress will not emasculate
the law … [it is] high time to stop U.S. and Israeli appeasement of
P.A.-sponsored terror.”
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