PA denies Saudi has cut its assistance

The Palestinian Authority has denied claims made by the Israeli media that Saudi Arabia has cut its funding of the government body.

In an interview with Al-Khaleej Online, a Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the reports aimed to create a state of confusion and damage relations between the two governments.

Saudi Arabia has paid $20 million to the PA on a monthly basis, but Israeli newspaper the Times of Israel said PA officials had stressed that these regular payments stopped without any prior warning.

According to the paper, the PA dispatched several officials to discuss the issue and to discover why the funding had stopped.

In order to downplay the situation, the Times of Israeli said, the PA is working on the assumption that the freeze comes in lines with the Kingdom’s new financial policy which cut much of its support for foreign countries as part of its budgetary strains.

However, the Israeli newspaper reported sources expecting that Riyadh had stopped the funds because it is unhappy with Abbas.

However, the Palestinian official said both Saudi Arabia’s monarchy and people are the very supportive of the Palestinian national project, and are careful to protect Palestinians, and help them overcome the financial and political crises exacerbated by the Israeli occupation.

He added that there is constant contact between Saudi and Palestinian officials regarding the Palestinian and Arab affairs.