United States of America reportedly announced it would grant Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza a sum of five million US Dollars, or 3.6 million New Israeli Shekels (NIS) to help deal with the Covid-19 paramedic.
In a tweet he posted on Thursday, the US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, said “I’m very pleased the USA is providing $5M for Palestinian hospitals and households to meet immediate, life-saving needs in combating COVID-19. The USA, as the world’s top humanitarian aid donor, is committed to assisting the Palestinian people, & others worldwide, in this crisis”
Washington’s decision comes as a response to the Coronavirus, which has plagued the majority of countries worldwide.
A statement by the US State of Department, read “The US government is leading the world’s humanitarian and health response to the COVID-19 pandemic even while we battle the virus at home”, the statement continued, “As part of this comprehensive and generous response from the American people, the US Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have now committed nearly $508 million in emergency health, humanitarian, and economic assistance on top of the funding we already provide to multilateral and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are helping communities around the world deal with the pandemic.”
The Ambassador added, “This funding will support critical activities to control the spread of the disease, such as rapid public-health information campaigns, water and sanitation, and preventing and controlling infections in health-care facilities”.
The sum, allocated for the Palestinian people comes two years after the administration of Donald Trump, cut off all financial aid to the Palestinian people, including the Palestinian Authority.
Withholding the aid was the administration’s response to the Palestinian peoples’ rejection of Trump’s vision for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, known as the deal of the century, as well as Trump’s endorsement of the internationally-recognized occupied East Jerusalem, as the undivided capital of the state of Israel.
US-Palestinian ties were further severed in January of 2020, after Trump publicly announced his deal of the century, which Palestinians believe hijacked their inalienable rights, including the right to a viable statehood, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as well as sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.
Image: Ma’an
