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U.S. Looking to Financially Prop Up the Palestinian Authority

(Wall Street Journal) Vivian Salama - The Biden administration is looking to financially prop up the Palestinian Authority as it hopes the PA will be able to govern Gaza when Israel's war with Hamas is over. The administration is trying to work around a law that prevents it from contributing directly to the Palestinian Authority, while also nudging allies to give more to the PA, U.S. officials said. The PA has been dogged by accusations of corruption and ties to extremists that led to the cutoff of U.S. funds in the first place. After Oct. 7, Israel suspended the transfer of tax revenue it collects for the PA which was earmarked for PA employees in Gaza, saying the funds go into the pockets of Hamas. In response, the Palestinian Authority said it wouldn't accept any partial revenue transfers. In January, Israel agreed to President Biden's plan to transfer the frozen tax revenues to Norway for safekeeping until an arrangement could be found that would assuage Israel's concerns that the money would fund Hamas. The U.S. is limited in its ability to provide direct support after Congress enacted the Taylor Force Act in March 2018, suspending U.S. bilateral economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority because of its practice of providing payments to Palestinians accused of terrorism and their relatives.
2024-02-19 00:00:00
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