NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 26 : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during the 74th United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations on September 26, 2019 in New York City. Abbas was expected to renew his pledge to hold parliamentary elections once he returns home, though he has made similar pledges in recent years. Palestinians last held elections in 2006. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images) Funding from Arab nations to the Palestinian Authority (PA) has declined 85% so far in 2020, The Jerusalem Post reported on Sept. 24.
Citing sources from the London-based news outlet The New Arab and data from the Palestinian Finance Ministry, the Post noted that Arab nations’ funding to the PA declined from $267 million in 2019 to $38 million in 2020. Arab nations haven’t given the PA any financial aid since March, according to the Post.
Foreign aid to the PA as a whole has similarly declined from $500 million in 2019 to $255 million in 2020, nearly a 50% decrease. The PA’s yearly revenues have also fallen 70% from 2019 to 2020.
PA Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki said in a Sept. 24 press conference that the decline in funding is due to Arab nations not following “the decisions of the Arab summits to provide a financial safety net of $100 million for Palestine in the face of US and Israeli sanctions. We do not know if this was the result of the financial repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, or at the request of the United States, as President (Donald) Trump said.”
Al Araby Al Jadeed, The New Arab’s Arabic-language outlet, reported that Trump had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he “asked the rich Arab countries not to pay the Palestinians.”
International human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky tweeted that the report is indicative of “signs that [the] #Arab world is growing increasingly tired with #Palestinian intransigence and rejectionism.”
More signs that #Arab world is growing increasingly tired with #Palestinian intransigence and rejectionism. https://t.co/iDp1E6z3X6
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 24, 2020
Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, similarly tweeted, “The Palestinians have very few Arab friends or supporters left. This will be Mahmoud Abbas’ legacy.”
The Palestinians have very few Arab friends or supporters left. This will be Mahmoud Abbas’ legacy. https://t.co/OUKQsorJ8I
— Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) September 24, 2020
The United States ceased all funding to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in 2019. The European Union is the largest donor to the PA, providing them with “hundreds of millions of euros” every year, according to the Post.
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