Blocking the financial aid to Palestinians promised by the Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a Republican senator of the US claimed he wants to ensure the money doesn’t go into the hands of Palestine authority or Hamas.
Despite the US Congress approving the funds, key Republican senator James Risch put a hold on it using the options listed under the US law of 2018. The funding, Mr Blinken said, was an aid to Palestine after suffering the attacks and assaults of Israel on Gaza in May.
Risch’s halt is denying Palestinians of reconstruction of water resources and roads, which are the need of the hour. This is a political move and the hold will have to be lifted ultimately, supporters of the US’s aid to Palestine said. The advocates who demanded Risch release the funding included many Democrats in the US House, a group headed by Representative Jamie Raskin, a Jewish.
However, the requests aren’t being heard by Risch as his spokesperson said on Monday that he isn’t willing to lift the hold.
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Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights said, “I just don’t see any justification for withholding the release of funds, other than the continued dehumanisation, ridicule and collective punishment of the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza.”
“It’s a part of the consistent collective punishment of the Palestinian people, particularly the people of Gaza,” he added.
Israel unveiled its havoc on Palestine after monstrously attacking the state for 11 consecutive days in May, leaving 100,000 innocent civilians homeless and 256 Palestinians dead, including 66 children. It violated the ceasefire and continued its airstrikes on Palestine, counter-blaming the state for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.
The current situation in the US House brings light on how a law brought in during the Trump administration is proving to be a hurdle in the new President Biden and his team’s efforts to subdue the violence in Palestine.
The thread of events started after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the nation’s financial aid to Palestine. During the May 25th meet, Mr Blinken promised Washington’s economical support to the country and pledged it would give $75 million for long-term development and reconstruction of essential resources for the nation.
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This did not go well with many Republicans, including Risch, who spared no time in blocking the funds. They went ahead to accuse the PA of giving $150 million, on the direction of Mr Abbas, to the kin of Palestinians who allegedly killed Israelis in the past years.
Trying to justify his block in a bid to glorify Israelis, Risch’s June 15th letter read, “Sadly, just after the Biden administration announced additional assistance to the West Bank and Gaza, PA President Abbas issued a $42,000 martyr’s payment to a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist who stabbed two Israelis to death in 2015. This is outrageous.”
“This abhorrent practice concerns me deeply and should be repugnant to all members of Congress,” Risch wrote in his letter.
