Measure to limit Palestinian aid over 'martyr payments' due to pass US Congress

Cuts to United States funding for the Palestinian Authority (PA), known as The Taylor Force Act, have been included as part of a massive “omnibus” spending bill likely to pass by tomorrow night.

According to Reuters, the law will “sharply reduce” the annual $300 million in aid to the PA “unless it takes steps to stop making what lawmakers described as payments that reward violent crime”, a reference to payments made to the families of Palestinians killed or jailed by Israeli authorities.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham revealed that he had secured US House of Representatives support for the bill “by preserving some humanitarian cutouts, or exceptions, that will allow up to $5 million for wastewater treatment and up to $500,000 for vaccinations for children”.

“Passage of the Taylor Force Act will give us much needed leverage with the Palestinians to push back on this outrageous policy,” Graham said in a statement yeserday.

The legislation is named after an American citizen fatally stabbed by a Palestinian in 2016.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported the proposed cuts do not affect the $50-100 million that the US gives annually to the PA forces who maintain “security coordination” with the Israeli military.

Read: Israel to deduct tax money from PA used to aid Palestinian prisoners’ families