عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

US, Palestinians to Discuss PA’s Economic Situation

Palestinians receive aid from UNRWA. (AFP/File)
Palestinians receive aid from UNRWA. (AFP/File)
TT
TT

US, Palestinians to Discuss PA’s Economic Situation

Palestinians receive aid from UNRWA. (AFP/File)
Palestinians receive aid from UNRWA. (AFP/File)

The Palestinian Prime Minister’s Advisor for Planning and Aid Coordination, Stephan Salameh, has revealed that an economic dialogue will resume on Tuesday between the Palestinian Authority and the US for the first time since 2016.

Speaking to the official Palestinian radio, Salameh said the Palestinian-American dialogue will take place via videoconference and will discuss ways to support the Palestinian economy and restore direct US support to the treasury of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

He said the PA will also request US pressure on Israel to stop deducting from Palestinian tax funds.

The PA has suffered from donor aid cuts over the past decade.

The Palestinian government's total revenues from foreign aid decreased by 89.6% during the first three months of 2021, according to data released by the Palestinian Finance Ministry.

Last month, the Authority’s 140,000 employees in the West Bank and Gaza saw a 25 percent cut of their salaries, an amount that the Finance Minister said will be paid out in arrears once Israel releases the withheld funds.

“These talks are important to us, especially under the current US administration. We hope, through dialogue, that US aid will return soon,” Salameh said.

In 2018, the United States passed legislation restricting some aid to the PA.

The Palestinian official stressed that the Biden administration has resumed its humanitarian support through third parties, while direct support to the treasury remains frozen.

“The US administration has promised to return financial support to the Palestinian treasury, but what is delaying this is the US laws that limit direct support to the Palestinian government, especially the operational support to the treasury, which was going to sustain salaries and poor families,” the official said.

Regarding European backing for the government’s treasury, Salameh said: “We are currently studying the agreements, and this support is expected to resume next February or March.”

The advisor said Palestinian officials expect 2022 to be better than this year in terms of international aid.

“We are also working to restore Arab support for the treasury,” he added.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Lebanese PM Says Premature to Talk of Any High-Level Meeting with Israel

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli strike in the south of Lebanon, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 06 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli strike in the south of Lebanon, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 06 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. (EPA)
TT
TT

Lebanese PM Says Premature to Talk of Any High-Level Meeting with Israel

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli strike in the south of Lebanon, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 06 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli strike in the south of Lebanon, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 06 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. (EPA)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said it is premature to talk of any high-level meeting between Lebanon and Israel, comments underlining the dim chances of one being held soon as hoped for by US President Donald Trump.

Salam, in comments reported by Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) on Wednesday, said shoring up a ceasefire would be the basis for any new round of negotiations that might be held by Lebanese and Israeli government envoys in Washington.

Hostilities between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued to rage in southern Lebanon despite a US-mediated ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel announced on April 16.

Since ‌Hezbollah triggered the ‌war by opening fire in support of Iran on March ‌2, ⁠the Lebanese administration ⁠led by Salam and President Joseph Aoun has initiated Beirut's highest-level contacts with Israel in decades, reflecting deep divisions between the Shiite group and its Lebanese opponents.

Washington last month hosted two meetings between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States. Hezbollah strongly objects to the contacts.

Announcing a three-week extension of the ceasefire on April 23, Trump said he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Aoun in the near future, and that he ⁠saw "a great chance" the countries would reach a peace deal ‌this year.

Salam said Lebanon was not seeking "normalization with Israel, but ‌rather achieving peace".

The current circumstances "are not ripe to talk about high-level meetings," he added, according to NNA.

"Our ‌minimum demand is a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal," he said, adding that the government ‌would develop its plan to restrict weapons to state control - an effort aimed at securing Hezbollah's disarmament.

Aoun said this week the timing was not right for a meeting with Netanyahu. Lebanon "must first reach a security agreement and a halt to the Israeli attacks, before we raise the issue of a meeting ‌between us," he said.

TRADING BLOWS

Israel has occupied a so-called security zone extending as deep as 10 km (6 miles) into southern ⁠Lebanon, saying it aims ⁠to protect northern Israel from Hezbollah militants embedded in civilian areas.

Hezbollah and Israel have continued to trade blows.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said on Wednesday an Israeli airstrike killed four people including two women and an elderly man in the town of Zelaya in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had launched explosive drones and rockets towards Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, injuring two Israeli soldiers.

It also said the Israeli air force intercepted a hostile aircraft before it crossed into Israel, and announced strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure in several areas in Lebanon.

More than 2,700 people have been killed in the war in Lebanon since March 2, the Health Ministry says.

The Israeli military says Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel since March 2. Israel has announced 17 soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon, along with two civilians in northern Israel.

Arab World

EU Urged to 'Act Now' on West Bank Settlement Project

The Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya (foreground) and the Israeli settlement of Shilo (background), north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, are pictured on May 6, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
The Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya (foreground) and the Israeli settlement of Shilo (background), north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, are pictured on May 6, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
TT
TT

EU Urged to 'Act Now' on West Bank Settlement Project

The Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya (foreground) and the Israeli settlement of Shilo (background), north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, are pictured on May 6, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
The Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya (foreground) and the Israeli settlement of Shilo (background), north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, are pictured on May 6, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

More than 400 former diplomats, ministers, and senior officials on Wednesday urged the European Union to "act now" against Israel's "illegal" settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The open letter comes as Israel intends to move forward with E1, a new construction project covering around 12 square kilometers (4.6 square miles) with some 3,400 housing units in the occupied West Bank.

The move would further separate east Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel and predominantly inhabited by Palestinians, from the West Bank.

"The EU and its member states, together with partners, must take immediate action to deter Israel from further advancing its illegal annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank," said the letter signed by more than 440 figures, including former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt.

The signatories called for targeted sanctions, such as visa bans and business restrictions, on "all those engaged in illegal settlement activity", calling for measures against those promoting or implementing the E1 scheme.

The Israeli government plans to publish an initial tender on June 1 for the construction of housing for up to 15,000 "illegal settlers", AFP quoted the letter as saying, urging the EU and its member states to "act now".

The plan has been condemned by international leaders, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres's spokesman saying it would pose an "existential threat" to a contiguous Palestinian state.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank in settlements that are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians.

In 2025, the expansion of Israeli settlements reached its highest level since at least 2017, when the United Nations began tracking data, according to a UN report.

There has been a spike in deadly attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Iran war on February 28, Palestinian officials and the United Nations have said.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

Arab World

Israel Army Says Striking Hezbollah Targets across Lebanon

An Israeli soldier gestures next to a tank, on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, May 3, 2026. REUTERS/Shir Torem
An Israeli soldier gestures next to a tank, on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, May 3, 2026. REUTERS/Shir Torem
TT
TT

Israel Army Says Striking Hezbollah Targets across Lebanon

An Israeli soldier gestures next to a tank, on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, May 3, 2026. REUTERS/Shir Torem
An Israeli soldier gestures next to a tank, on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, May 3, 2026. REUTERS/Shir Torem

Israel's army said Wednesday it had begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure in several areas of Lebanon, despite a truce with the neighboring country intended to halt fighting with the Iran-backed militant group. 

"The IDF has begun striking Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites in several areas in Lebanon," a military statement said. 

It came shortly after the army reported "several incidents" during which drones exploded near Israeli soldiers operating in Lebanon's south.  

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley killed four people, with local media reporting the attack took place before the Israeli army issued a warning to evacuate the area along with 11 other towns. 

"An Israeli enemy raid on the town of Zellaya in West Bekaa resulted in four martyrs, including two women and an elderly man," the ministry said. 

Lebanese state media said the attack struck the house of the town's mayor, killing him and three members of his family.