House Appropriations Subcommittee approves $3.3 billion to Israel security
The bill next heads to the full Committee for markup. It also includes $225 million “to help address the needs of the Palestinian people, which may include support for UNRWA”
By OMRI NAHMIASUS SOLDIERS stand in the background next to Israeli and American flags during an exercise in Israel.(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – The House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs approved by voice vote its fiscal year 2021 bill on Monday that will provide funds to Israel security in addition to giving aid to the Palestinians.The bill next heads to the full committee for markup. It will provide the funds according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on military aid between the US and Israel.“It keeps the commitments of the United States at Camp David in 1979 to promote peace in the Middle East by providing $3.3 billion in aid for Israel security, as well as assistance for Egypt,” said House Appropriations Subcommittee chairwoman Nita Lowey.She added that the bill also seeks to restore humanitarian and development assistance to the Palestinians, “to continue the viability of a two-state solution by providing resources to organizations working in the West Bank and Gaza.”The bill includes $225 million “to help address the needs of the Palestinian people, which may include support for UNRWA,” the House Appropriations Committee said in a statement. It is unclear what the chances of that article to pass the Senate are.President Donald Trump’s administration cut all funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in 2018, questioning the organization’s “fundamental business model” of servicing an “endlessly and exponentially expanding community” of declared Palestinian refugees. The State Department described the agency as “irredeemably flawed.”Lowey also announced the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act of 2020, which authorizes $50m. for five fiscal years to establish the People-to-People Partnership for Peace Fund under USAID, and the Joint Investment for Peace Initiative under the DFC, “which will provide investments in people-to-people exchanges and economic cooperation, respectfully, between Israelis and Palestinians with the goal of supporting a negotiated and sustainable two-state solution.” Lowey spearheaded similar bipartisan legislation in 2019, together with members of the House and the Senate.“I am particularly proud that as a bipartisan priority, the mark includes 50 million to fund a new partnership for peace in the Middle East that would promote economic development while strengthening engagement between Palestinians and Israelis, through people, to people programs and economic ventures,” she said.
