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US envoy: 'Never seen the PA in a worse situation'

July 16, 2021 at 11:32 am

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (C), mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, recites a prayer as he arrives for a meeting in the West Bank’s Ramallah on September 3, 2020 [ALAA BADARNEH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]

The US State Department official in charge of Palestinian and Israeli affairs this week warned Israeli officials that the Palestinian Authority is facing dangerous economic and political crises and action must be taken.

“I have never seen the Palestinian Authority in a worse situation,” Amr said according to Yahoo News. “It is like a dry forest waiting to catch on fire.”

The situation is a culmination of financial instablity as a result of Israel’s withholding of Palestinian tax funds, months of US cuts to Palestinian aid coupled with the coronavirus pandemic. A political crisis is also being experienced after the PA cancelled the legislative elections after Israeli occupation authorities refused to allow Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem to vote.

He proposed that Israel help and strengthen the PA but said he would not beg either side to take action, adding: “If you want the US to help, we will be happy to do it.”

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