PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas meets with US envoy Lt. Gen. William E. Ward (left) and US Consul in Jerusalem Jacob Walles. And looky who's picture's on the wall.....St. Yasir!The Palestinian Authority returned $30 million to the American government out of the $50 million in aid that it agreed to send back to the US after the Hamas victory, according to US envoy David Welch.
Welch, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, told lawmakers on Thursday the money was returned a day earlier and the Palestinian Authority had promised to give back a further $20 million before Hamas took over.
The US is investigating different methods of transferring the financial aid directly to the Palestinian people, thereby circumventing US law against direct aid to Hamas.
A senior State Department official said the $50 million would probably be "reprogrammed" for humanitarian aid to the Palestinians but Congress would have to agree to that.
Of course, there absolutely no guarantee that like most of the billions in the other aid the Palestinians have received won't wind up in European bank acounts or funding terrorism.
Same old stuff..
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