US transfers $200 million in aid to Palestinians

[Teresa]

Hmmmmm... personally I think that we should not be giving money to anyone right now... When you have Americans out of work... then you better start concentrating on "home"


RAMALLAH, West Bank – The United States has transferred $200 million to the Palestinian government to help ease a growing budget deficit, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has been struggling in recent months to keep his government afloat, borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars from commercial banks just to cover the public payroll.

The reasons for the shortfall include Israel's restrictions on the Palestinian economy, the border blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the failure of some donor countries to make good on their aid pledges, Fayyad said Friday, in a video conference with Clinton.

With Friday's aid transfer, donor countries have given the Palestinian government $606 million in budget support this year, covering only about one-third of the estimated deficit of $1.45 billion for 2009, Fayyad said.

"We have received aid, but not enough to deal with our needs, and we faced sharp economic difficulties throughout the last months," Fayyad told reporters.

Since 2007, donor countries have pledged more than $10 billion to the Palestinians, to help shore up the Western-backed government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who lost Gaza in a violent Hamas takeover two years ago. However, the aid has had little impact, largely because Israeli restrictions on Palestinian trade and movement have prevented a recovery of the Palestinian economy.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration pledged $900 million in aid to the Palestinians, and the $200 million in budget support announced Friday are part of that sum. Clinton told Fayyad that the transfer of U.S. aid directly to his budget was an expression of confidence in his fiscal reforms.

Read more about this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_us

[Anmar]

Teresa,

While i agree that we should really think about not giving foreign aid to other countries, consider this...

The palestinian territories are a very crucial area for us on the international level.  This is because it affects our relationship with other middle eastern countries.  Think of it this way, 200 million could save us a bunch of money in the form of lower oil prices.

On another note, by supporting the more peaceful palestinians, hopefully their people will be less inclined to turn towards Hamas. 

200 Million is really a tiny drop in the bucked when it comes to US foreign Aid, there's a chart here on this website.

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/politics/us-foreign-aid.htm

Overall, we give 22 billion away every year to foreign countries.  It's a big joke if you ask me.  Is it any surprise that we give the most to Israel, a country that happens to have the most powerful washington lobby?