Anera supports Senate resolution urging restoration of humanitarian aid to Palestinians
April 17, 2019 | Washington, DC Along with a coalition of 17 other international aid organizations, Anera expresses its support for a resolution recently introduced in the U.S. Senate calling for a restoration of humanitarian aid to the West Bank and Gaza.
The resolution, S. Res. 171, calls for “restoring United States bilateral assistance to the West Bank and Gaza,” citing the “dire health and economic conditions facing the Palestinian people.” In a press release issued by Sen. Merkley’s office on Tuesday, the senator noted that “Thousands of individuals are facing dire health and economic conditions in the West Bank and Gaza.”
Anera has previously warned of the devastating impact of the aid cuts on Anera’s ongoing and planned projects in the West Bank and Gaza, including a half-built school in the Bethlehem area.
Specifically, the resolution urges “the Executive branch [to] expend before the end of fiscal year 2019 all bilateral assistance to the West Bank and Gaza that Congress appropriated for such assistance in fiscal year 2018.”
Sen. Coons added that, “It is critical that we restore lifesaving aid to the West Bank and Gaza, which Congress has already appropriated.”
The resolution further calls for enacting legislation to “clarify that programs and activities funded through the Economic Support Fund and that are consistent with the Taylor Force Act… may not be used as a basis to assert jurisdiction over the Palestinian Authority pursuant to the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act.”
“There are thousands of children and families in the West Bank and Gaza who need the aid the United States has historically provided,” Sen. Cortez Masto noted.
The resolution was introduced last week by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Coons (D-DE), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
For more information, please contact:
Steven Fake
Media Relations Officer, Anera
202.266.9719
[email protected]
About Anera
For over 50 years, Anera has helped refugees and others hurt by conflicts in the Middle East live with dignity and purpose. Anera, which has no political or religious affiliation, works on the ground with partners in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Lebanon, and Jordan. We mobilize resources for immediate humanitarian relief and for sustainable health, education, and economic development efforts. Our staff are from the communities they serve, navigating the politics that constrict progress to get help where it’s needed most. In this way, Anera has grown to deliver more than $65 million in programming annually. We will keep building better lives until hope finds its way in the Middle East.