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US aid goes to humanitarian aid or Israeli creditors, not directly to the PA

Headline: “Did Obama’s money reach the Palestinians?”
     “New American President [Donald Trump] - upon his entry to the White House and almost as part of the first decision he made - froze an amount of $220 million that was allocated for aid to the Palestinians, and which his predecessor former [US] President Barack Obama had released a short time before leaving the White House [on Jan. 20, 2017].
According to what was reported on the Hebrew [news] website Arutz Sheva on Thursday [March 9, 2017], American State Department Spokesman Mark Toner spoke during a press briefing about how most of this money was instead transferred for humanitarian purposes in the PA and in the Gaza Strip, while part of it was transferred to Israeli bodies to which the PA owes money. ‘The money was not transferred directly to the PA, but rather to bodies that provide services,’ emphasized Mark Toner in his response to one journalist's question.”

US State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said in the press briefing on March 8, 2017: “220.3 million that was released was for West Bank programs such as water, infrastructure, education, renewable energy, civil society, municipal governance, and the rule of law, as well as Gaza recovery. And a smaller amount was to go directly to Israeli creditors of the Palestinian Authority as well as East Jerusalem hospitals. None of the funding was to go directly to the Palestinian Authority. Whether this money has been released, it’s my understanding that the money – that the money has been released.”

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