Talk peace with israel or lose us aid, Trump tells palestinians
DAVOS: America will withhold all financial aid to the Palestinians if they do not pursue peace with Israel, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday.
He accused Palestinians of snubbing Vice President Mike Pence on a visit to the region this week, following the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
“When they disrespected us a week ago by not allowing our great vice president to see them, and we give them hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and support, tremendous numbers, numbers that nobody understands — that money is on the table and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace,” Trump said after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Washington has already withheld $65 million of the $125 million in aid it planned to give to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Palestinians had to come to the negotiating table, the president said. “Because I can tell you that Israel does want to make peace, and they’re going to have to want to make peace too or we’re going to have nothing to do with them any longer.”
Trump said his administration had a peace proposal in the works that was a “great proposal for Palestinians” and covered “a lot of the things that were over the years discussed or agreed on.”
He said his declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital took it off the negotiating table “and Israel will pay for that. They’ll do something that will be a very good thing.”