Reportedly, the State Department is considering a return to funding the Palestinian Authority (PA), seeking, inter alia, to bolster civil society and an independent press in the areas under its control. Dore Feith doubts that such a plan will work:
As of this month, Palestinian NGOs are required to submit plans of action and budgets to the PA, which reviews them for conformity to the “work plan of the relevant ministry.” Palestinian organizations now claim this not only interferes with their independence, but also indicates “a deliberate intention to dissolve” NGOs. Why? Because the law authorizes the government to absorb the dissolved organizations’ assets into the PA treasury or transfer them “to a similar Palestinian association or institution.” Funders of anti-corruption NGOs may soon find that their dollars are enriching the very authorities whose graft those NGOs have sought to expose. U.S. government funds might also get swept up in this scheme.
Since 2018, U.S. law prohibits sending economic assistance that “directly benefits the Palestinian Authority” so long as the PA continues its practice of doling out financial rewards to people who have committed terrorism against Israelis. The law is known as the Taylor Force Act, named after an American West Point graduate and veteran who was killed by a Palestinian terrorist in Israel. It is not clear how the Biden administration plans to square its aid intentions with the requirements of that extant law.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged that the U.S. will hold accountable “those who commit human-rights abuses.” One cannot do that if one funds the PA. The key to helping the Palestinians is not to send the PA money, but to help save the Palestinian people from the PA itself.
Read more on Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/pa-just-made-it-harder-biden-help-palestinians-opinion-1579164