BREAKING NEWS

PA minister: US aid not yet frozen, wouldn't harm statehood

Palestinian Authority Minister of Planning Ali Jirbawi said that the US Congress's decision to halt US aid to the Palestinians has not yet been issued, PA-run news agency WAFA reported on Monday.
Jirbawi, however, played down the effect of such a move should it happen, saying that it would not affect the PA's readiness for statehood.
The PA, he said, is "fully ready to embody the reality of a state," noting the difference between the financial crisis the PA faces and its readiness for statehood.
The minister of planning also laid out plans to reduce the PA's dependency on foreign aid, which he said the Palestinian government is "exerting all possible effort[s]" to ween itself from by 2013.