In the last few years, the idea of cutting U.S. assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip once was seen as a way of punishing Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian leadership, but views have changed.
Now, most agree that increasing aid that benefits Palestinian people — and doesn’t go to the Palestinian Authority — is an essential move toward achieving a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Even many American Jewish leaders, who have advocated sanctions against Arafat and the organization’s leadership, concede the need for humanitarian aid.
“Palestinian people are real live people that you have to relate with,” said Hannah Rosenthal, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. “We are very concerned about their humanitarian needs.”
But Jewish leaders’ support is hesitant, noting that aid must go for its intended humanitarian purposes, and not to support the Palestinian Authority.