Donald Trump has dramatically escalated his conflict with the Palestinian leadership, threatening to cut funding for the Palestinian Authority unless it recommences peace talks.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, earlier said the US would cut funds to UNRWA, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, unless the Palestinian Authority went back to the negotiating table.
In what appeared to be an angry and defensive acknowledgement that his quest for the “ultimate deal” of Middle East peace has foundered following his controversial recognition in December of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Trump lashed out at the Palestinian leadership.
In a pair of tweets, he said the US paid “the Palestinians HUNDRED [sic] OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue … peace treaty with Israel.”
“We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”
As ever, quite what Trump had in mind was left vague, but one key Palestinian recipient of US funding is the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, which cooperate with their counterparts in Israel. US funding for the Palestinians is $260m, with an additional $50m used to support Palestinian security services.
“Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the state of Palestine and it is not for sale for gold or billions,” a spokesman for the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said in reply.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
