(AFP) Key U.S. lawmakers are blocking about $200 million in Palestinian economic aid in response to their UN statehood bid, congressional aides said Saturday. Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have frozen the funding "until the Palestinian statehood issue is sorted out," one aide said. The economic package is separate from security aid, which lawmakers say would be counterproductive to block since withholding those funds would weaken the ability of Palestinian security forces to quell anti-Israel violence.
2011-10-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive