Palestinian funding from Arab countries fell by 85% in 2020



[ad_1]

According to The Arabic language of the new Arabic and data from the Palestinian finance ministry service, Ramallah has not received aid from Arab countries since March, in addition to a 50% decrease in foreign aid.

Ramallah’s total revenue fell by roughly 70% this year.

Palestinian government funding was cut in half relative to foreign aid in the first seven months of the year, from $ 500 million in 2019 to $ 255 million in 2020 in foreign aid, and Arab aid fell by 85%, from $ 267 million in 2019 to $ 38 million in 2020, in the same period.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki examined the reasons behind the sudden drop in funding at a press conference, stating that “most of the Arab countries did not abide by the decisions of the Arab summits to provide a network $ 100 million in financial security for Palestine in the face of US and Israeli sanctions. “

This financial situation occurred in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, but also during a period when normalization agreements were being negotiated, with strong opposition from Ramallah, between several Gulf states and Israel, strongly backed by the United States.

US President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that he had “asked rich Arab countries not to pay the Palestinians,” according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

“We do not know if this was the result of the financial repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, or at the request of the United States, as President Trump said,” Al-Maliki added.

“But the result is the same, unfortunately these decisions have not been made or implemented.”

The financial crisis and the drop in Arab and foreign aid has forced the Palestinian Authority to increase its internal debt and seek new sources of income.

Last June, European MPs called for a comprehensive investigation into how European taxpayer money is ending up in the hands of Palestinian terrorists, insisting that any loopholes through which the money is leaking must be closed.

The EU annually donates hundreds of millions of euros to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority transfers approximately € 50 million each quarter to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which in turn funds organizations such as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which has carried out suicide attacks in Israel. “There is no financing of terrorism with EU funds, as long as there are EU funds that will not happen, this will not be tolerated, and if it happens, it will be rectified,” said EU enlargement commissioner Olivér Várhelyi. “And I’ll see to it myself that it’s done and delivered.”
Donna Rachel Edmunds contributed to this report.



[ad_2]