US stops $25m aid for Jerusalem hospitals

The administration of United States President Donald Trump said on Saturday that it was cutting $25 million (Dh91.95 million), meant for hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem, to divert the money towards “high-priority projects elsewhere”.

The director of an occupied east Jerusalem hospital said yesterday that the funding cut will have a “severe effect.” Bassem Abu Libdeh, of the Makassed hospital, said the US covers 40 per cent of costs in six occupied east Jerusalem hospitals that provide care for Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The move follows the US State Department’s announcement late last month that the administration was slashing more than $200 million in bilateral aid to the Palestinians, following a review that Trump ordered to ensure the spending was aligned with US national interests.

The Palestinians had held out hope that hospital money would be spared because it was not included in the previously announced cut. Last Saturday, the Palestinian National Authority denounced the US administration’s move as “an act of political blackmail”.

Projects elsewhere

The US State Department said the review was intended to make sure the American aid was “being spent in accordance with US national interests and was providing value to the US taxpayer”. The administration “will be redirecting approximately $25 million originally planned for the East Jerusalem Hospital Network. Those funds will go to high-priority projects elsewhere”, the department added. It did not identify the projects.

Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi accused the US administration of threatening to cause “serious instability and grave harm” to thousands of patients and their families.