US intends to restore humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people
“We're not doing that as a favor, but because it's in the interest of the United States to do so globally,” said US State Department spokesman Ned Price, who also spoke about Iran.
By OMRI NAHMIASNewly confirmed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives for a welcome ceremony at the State Department in Washington, U.S., January 27, 2021.(photo credit: CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, confirmed at a press briefing on Tuesday that “the United States does intend to restore humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.”Price added that there is currently no clear time frame for resuming the financial aid.“This is something we are working on very quickly to restore and to announce,” he said.“We’re not doing that as a favor, but because it’s in the interest of the United States to do so globally,” Price continued. “Our humanitarian assistance provides critical relief such as emergency food assistance, healthcare, education. And the suspension of aid to the Palestinian people has neither produced political progress nor secured concessions from the Palestinian leadership. It has only harmed innocent Palestinians.”He went on to say that the United States “will reinvigorate our humanitarian leadership and work to galvanize the international community to meet its humanitarian obligations, including to the Palestinian people.”He also addressed several questions about the Biden administration’s policy toward Iran.“When it comes to our strategy for the JCPOA and to contain Iran’s nuclear program, as we said in the first instance, we’re going to have to consult closely with our allies and partners,” Price noted. “We’re also consulting with members of Congress. So we haven’t had any discussions with the Iranians, and I wouldn’t expect we would, until those initial steps go forward.“[We will be] consulting with our allies; consulting with our partners; consulting with Congress, before we’re reaching the point where we’re going to engage directly with the Iranians and willing to entertain any sort of proposal, especially since we’ve been very clear about the proposition we have put on the table,” Price said.He went on to say that the American position is that if Iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the JCPOA, the United States would do the same, “and then we would use that as a platform to build a longer and a stronger agreement that also addresses other areas of concern.“Of course we are a long way from that,” he added. “Iran has distanced itself from compliance on a number of fronts, and there are many steps in that process.”
