US President Joe Biden.(Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) President Joe Biden will announce $316-million (R5.42-billion) in US aid for the Palestinians on Friday, as he seeks to revive US ties with the Palestinian Authority with a hospital visit and a meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas.
The aid package will include as much as $100 million for the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, subject to congressional approval, according to a senior administration official. Another $200 million will go to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, a programme that the US stopped funding under Donald Trump’s presidency, the official said.
Trump cut off most US government ties with the Palestinian Authority after a series of disputes, including Palestinian criticism of his decision to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and the rejection of his administration’s proposed Middle East peace plan.
Biden will also announce technological cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian teams working to build a 4G cellular network in Palestinian territories by the end of 2023.
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That project may include opportunities under the US-led Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, which is intended to counter China’s Belt and Road initiative, the official said.
The official asked not to be identified on condition of participation in a briefing to preview the third day of Biden’s Middle East trip.
After visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Friday, Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia. There, he’s scheduled to meet with the kingdom’s leaders, including King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
The White House hopes to persuade OPEC+ nations to increase oil output, with high fuel prices weighing on Biden and his party before midterm congressional elections in November. Biden also plans to discuss the truce in Yemen’s civil war with the Saudi leaders, as well as other regional matters. BM