U.S. law has long barred direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The only exception is when the President makes a special determination that such assistance is necessary for U.S. national security reasons, and then the law requires extensive reporting to Congress on how the funds are used and accounted for. This ban has its roots in deep US mistrust of now-deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and concerns about Palestinian corruption. As a result of this prohibition on direct aid, virtually all U.S. assistance for the Palestinians has long been provided through non-governmental organizations, and Congress has placed far-reaching limitations and conditions on such assistance.

Following the death of Arafat and the January 2005 election of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Congress placed additional conditions on U.S. assistance to the PA, making U.S. assistance to the Palestinians in the post-Arafat era even more conditioned than when Arafat was in charge.

The January 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections which brought Hamas – a U.S. designated Foreign Terrorist Organization – to power created new obstacles to U.S. aid to the Palestinians. As a result, the current U.S. aid program is subject to further Congressionally-mandated restrictions, conditions, and oversight requirements.

Even with this difficult history, U.S. aid has played and will continue to play an important role in building a Palestinian society ready and with the capacity to make peace with Israel. Today, the U.S. provides much-needed funding for, among other things, humanitarian projects, civil society programs, and training to bolster Palestinian moderate leadership and enable the PA to build a real security capacity. This aid also has an important multiplier effect, as other countries view U.S. aid as a positive signal that they, too, should support such efforts.

APN supports continued and expanded humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians via NGOs and UN agencies, as well as continued and expanded assistance to the PA, in order to help stabilize the political and security situation and to address humanitarian needs. We believes that it is vital to ensure that the President has the authority to waive, for national security reasons, restrictions on aid to the Palestinians opposes any efforts to impose additional sanctions on the Palestinians, bearing in mind that the impact of sanctions is felt mainly by innocent civilians and that unintended consequences of sanctions include humanitarian suffering and a political backlash against the U.S., Israel, and moderate elements of Palestinian society.