09 June 2010

Obama Announces New Initiatives for West Bank, Gaza

Washington — President Obama, meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, announced approximately $400 million in additional funds for public projects and programs in the West Bank and Gaza.

The additional assistance will increase access for Palestinians to clean drinking water, create jobs, build schools, expand the availability of affordable housing and also address critical health and infrastructure needs, the White House said in a statement June 9 after the presidents’ Oval Office meeting.

While discussing measures to improve conditions for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, Obama and Abbas primarily focused their talks on moving indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks, known as “proximity talks,” into direct peace negotiations. U.S. special envoy George Mitchell has been conducting indirect talks since March, when direct talks stalled after an announcement on housing construction in East Jerusalem.

Obama is expected to raise the issue of direct talks when his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is rescheduled in the coming weeks. Netanyahu asked Obama to postpone their June 1 meeting so he could attend to events surrounding a May 31 incident where activists aboard an aid convoy attempted to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and some activists were killed.

“Obviously there is a lot of work that remains to be done so that we can create a two-state solution in the Middle East in which we have an Israel that is secure and fully accepted by its neighbors, and a Palestinian people that have their own state, self-determination, and the ability to chart their own destiny,” Obama said in remarks with Abbas following their meeting.

Abbas told reporters that “we are not saying that we have conditions” with regard to transitioning from indirect talks to the direct talks.

“What has happened is that we agreed that should progress be achieved, then we would move on to direct talks. We are working in order to make progress,” Abbas said.

WEST BANK AND GAZA ASSISTANCE

Obama said the $400 million in assistance resulted from guidance by Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The president has described the situation in Gaza as unsustainable, and that it demands a significant change in strategy. The Gaza Strip is under the political control of Hamas.

“While we work with our partners in the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Egypt and the international community to put such a strategy in place, these projects represent a down payment on the United States’ commitment to Palestinians in Gaza,” the White House said.

The projects include:

• A $240 million investment by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation in the AMAL mortgage finance program in the West Bank.

• $75 million in funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to support the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to improve infrastructure throughout the West Bank and Gaza.

• $10 million in USAID-funded projects to enhance the Palestinian private sector’s competitiveness.

• $40 million to support the emergency appeal for Gaza and the West Bank by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

• $14.5 million in USAID projects for school rehabilitation, small-scale farming, hospital repairs and community infrastructure in Gaza.

• $10 million for the construction of five new UNRWA schools in Gaza.

• $5 million to start nine USAID-funded projects to repair water distribution and wastewater collection systems in Gaza.

The bulk of the assistance ($240 million) will be administered through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), followed by USAID ($104.5 million) and UNRWA ($50 million). OPIC efforts focus on the Palestinian housing sector and will generate jobs in the Palestinian territories. USAID-administered funds will be directed toward repairing and rehabilitating infrastructure in Gaza as well as enhancing the Palestinian private sector. With the $50 million contribution through UNRWA, the United States will add to its support of education, as well as emergency assistance in Gaza. The United States is UNRWA’s largest bilateral donor, providing over $267 million in 2009, and has already contributed $95 million in fiscal year 2010.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)