U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians

(2004-2009)

Types of U.S. Aid to the Palestinians

Project Assistance Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Most aid to the Palestinians is provided through assistance to NGOs participating in USAID’s West Bank and Gaza program. Funds are allocated in this program for projects in sectors such as economic development, democratic reform, improving water access and other infrastructure, health care, education, and vocational training. The program is subject to a vetting process and to yearly audits intended to ensure that funds are not diverted to Hamas or other organizations classified as terrorist groups by the U.S. government.

Direct Assistance to the Palestinian Authority. According to annual foreign operations appropriations laws, congressionally approved funds for the West Bank and Gaza Strip cannot be given directly to the PA unless the President submits a waiver to Congress stating that doing so is in the interest of national security. Recent instances in which the United States has provided direct assistance to the PA as a result of special action include the following.

• In January 2007, President Bush reprogrammed $86.362 million in prior-year funding into the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) account to support Palestinian civil security forces loyal to President Abbas. Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for State, Foreign Operations, and Related programs put a hold on the funds in February 2007, reportedly seeking assurances that they would only be used for non-lethal assistance. Obligation of the funds for non-lethal purposes eventually began in June 2007, the moth the Hamas-led unity government was dissolved and the new Fayyad PA government was formed.
• In June 2007, President Bush issued a waiver to provide an additional $18 million in direct assistance to the PA to be used for a variety of purposes, including democracy assistance and security assistance.
• In February 2008, President Bush issued a waiver to provide $150 million in budgetary assistance to the PA to "avert a serious and immediate financial crisis." Chairwoman Lowey again declared a hold, requesting greater details about the funds' allocation. The funds were disbursed to the PA after the State Department delivered a certification (dated March 14, 2008) directly to Chairwoman Lowey stating that the PA had established a single treasury account and a single civil service payroll roster.

Assistance for Palestinian Civil Security Forces. As mentioned above, aid has been given to train and to provide non-lethal equipment for PA security forces loyal to President Abbas in an effort to counter militants from organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and to establish the rule of law for an unexpected Palestinian state. This assistance, planned by the Administration to last at least through 2011, has come from the INCLE account. Since Hamas gained control of the Gaza Strip, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the U.S. Security Coordinator, has helped with the training of about 400 Presidential Guardsman and about 1,000 National Security Forces (NSF) troops (training for the second of five special NSF battalions planned for the West Bank began in September 2008) at the International Police Training Center just outside Amman, Jordan.

U.S. Contributions to UNRWA. The United States is the largest single-state donor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which provides food, shelter, medical care, and education for many of the original refugees from the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli War and their families -- now comprising approximately four million Palestinians in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza. U.S. contributions to UNRWA -- separate from U.S. bilateral aid to the West Bank and Gaza -- come from the Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account and also from the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (EMRA) account. According to the State Department's Bureau of Population Refugees, and Migration (PRM), U.S. contributions to UNRWA for FY2008 total approximately $185 million.

FY2008 and FY2009 Assistance

The United States has appropriated a total of $414.5 million in bilateral assistance to the Palestinians for FY2008:

• $239.5 million in Economic Support Fund assistance
• $150 million in direct assistance to the PA
• $25 million in INCLE security assistance

A "bridge fund" appropriation for FY2009 of $150 million in Economic Support Fund (ESF) assistance for the West Bank and Gaza, along with $50 million in INCLE security assistance, has been made pursuant to the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (P.L. 110-252). The Administration requested an additional ESF assistance of $75 million, along with $25 million in INCLE assistance, for FY2009.

U.S. Bilateral Assistance to the Palestinians FY2004-FY2009

(regular and supplemental appropriations; current year $ in millions)