The Ad Hoc Liaison Comm. (AHLC), the chief policy-level coordination mechanism for development assistance to the Palestinians, met on 5/4 in Brussels, under the chairmanship of Norwegian FM Børge Brende. Attendees considered reports from UN special coordinator Mladenov, the World Bank, the PA, and the IMF. Breaking from the standard practice at past meetings of the AHLC, the minutes were not made public, causing uncertainty around the attendees’ discussions and conclusions. It is worth noting that this was the 1st AHLC meeting in which a rep. of the Trump admin. participated. U.S. special representative for international negotiations Greenblatt told the group that the Trump admin. wanted to “see meaningful progress” on the Palestinian economy. “The U.S., the international community, and the parties should work together to finalize measures which improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians,” he stated. Greenblatt also held Hamas responsible for the electricity crisis in Gaza and said that it “must allow” the PA to resume control of Gaza (see “Gaza Electricity Crisis” and “Intra-Palestinian Dynamics” above).
The international community maintained their funding to the PA and Palestinians in the oPt this quarter. Germany agreed (3/6) to donate €18 m. (approx. $20 m.) to support PA programs meant to improve local services and to develop municipalities in the West Bank and Gaza. Japan transferred (4/25) $8 m. to the PA in budget support via the World Bank. The EU announced (4/11) a €11.75 m. (approx. $13.2 m.) grant to the PA, to fund social welfare allowances to 71,500 impoverished Palestinian families. Saudi Arabia donated $80 m. to help rebuild homes destroyed during Israel’s summer 2014 assault on Gaza, according to the PA on 3/23 ($40 m. of this was to be disbursed via UNRWA; see below). Finally, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) announced (4/18) that Japan had contributed $905,650 to support its efforts protecting civilians and supporting reconstruction in Gaza (Japan previously gave UNMAS $3 m. in 2015 and $500,000 in 2016 to support activities in Gaza).
In addition, UNRWA as the agency in charge of providing health, education, and other social services to Palestinian refugees announced $126.35 m. worth of new donations from Japan (2/24), Liechtenstein (3/1), the European Commission for Humanitarian Operations (3/8), Saudi Arabia (3/23), the Islamic Development Bank (3/23), the EU (3/30), Russia (5/9), and South Korea (5/12), up from a total of $119.627 m. last quarter. The bulk of the funds, some $80 m., were designated for reconstruction efforts in Gaza.
Gaza Aid Scandal
Beersheba Dist. Court judge Nasser Abu Taha advised (3/28) Mohammed El Halabi, a former employee of the Christian aid charity World Vision in Gaza, on trial for allegedly diverting funds to Hamas, that he had “little chance” of being acquitted and urged him to take the plea deal he had rejected last quarter (see JPS 46 [3]). Israeli forces had arrested El Halabi on 8/4/2016 and accused him of stealing $43 m. in international aid. As the Israeli legal proceedings continued, Australia’s Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) announced (3/21) that its review of the Israeli allegations “uncovered nothing to suggest any diversion of govt. funds.” Australia donated m. of dollars to World Vision during the period concerned, and suspended its aid following his arrest. The DFAT also said that Australian support to World Vision would remain suspended at least until the conclusion of the trial.
In a related development, Israel’s Shin Bet accused (3/21) 2 more Gazan aid workers— Muhammad Murtaj, the manager of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency’s Gaza branch, and Mehmet Kaya, the Gaza rep. of the Turkish NGO Humanitarian Relief Foundation, also known as the IHH—of diverting “millions of shekels” in international aid to Hamas. Israeli forces arrested Murtaj in 2/2017, but Kaya had not been arrested at the time of the Shin Bet’s announcement.