WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th August, 2018) US President Donald Trump ordered the State Department to redirect $200 million in funding away from programs to aid Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, the Department said in a press release on Friday.
"At the direction of President Trump, we have undertaken a review of US assistance to the Palestinian Authority and in the West Bank and Gaza to ensure these funds are spent in accordance with US national interests and provide value to the US taxpayer," the release said.
Bilateral assistance to the Palestinians since 1994 has totaled more than $5 billion, and contributions to the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), which has aided Palestinian refugees since 1950, have totaled more than $6 billion, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service.
In January, the Trump administration withheld $65 million in US funding for UNRWA, more than half $125 earmarked for the UN agency.
