US Senate panel approves bill to suspend aid to Palestinians
The US Senate has approved suspension of American financial aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the payments it makes to the families of Palestinians arrested or slain by Israel.
The Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 17-4 on Thursday in favor of the bill.
The measure was sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and committee chairman Bob Corker of Tennessee.
Corker said the payments by the Palestinian Authority encourage acts of terrorism against Israel and the United States.
“This is sick,” he said.
Head of the Palestinian General Delegation to the US, Husam Zomlot, has described the move as “misinformed and counterproductive. “
He said the payments are part of a 52-year old program “to support families who lost their breadwinners to the atrocities of the occupation, the vast majority of whom are unduly arrested or killed by Israel.”
“The program has served a social and security need to provide for our people, guarantee a better future for the children and protect the needy from the many radical groups around us,” Zomlot said in an emailed statement.
Washington provides Israel with over $3 billion annually, making Tel Aviv the biggest recipient of US foreign aid.
Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II. US military assistance to Israel has amounted to $127 billion since it began in 1962, according to a recent congressional report.
Gazans now face epidemic of traumatic injuries: UNRWA
23 Palestinians killed in Gaza as Israel issues new evacuation threats
Israel launches extensive crackdown, raids in West Bank
US imposes new sanctions on fleet involved in Iran’s oil exports
Iran ready to consider troop deployment to Syria upon official request
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
23 Palestinians killed in Gaza as Israel issues new evacuation threats
Gazans now face epidemic of traumatic injuries: UNRWA
South Korea’s President Yoon declares martial law
Yemen, Iraqi resistance strike Israeli targets in joint operations
France’s Barnier government inches closer to collapse
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
