Palestinian Authority to boycott White House conference on Gaza humanitarian crisis

March 12, 2018 by JNS
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The Palestinian Authority has announced its intention to boycott an upcoming conference at the White House to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

File photo: Palestinians fill plastic bottles and jar cans with drinking water from a public tap in the southern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Rafah, on July 26, 2015. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash 90

Approximately two million Arabs live in the densely populated strip to the south of Israel’s Mediterranean coastline.  The strip, while not recognized as an independent state, is cutoff both from Israel and neighboring Egypt.  Gazans receive funding from the Palestinian Authority, which does not control the strip.  Several countries provide Gaza with relief aid yet Hamas often diverts the funds to build terror infrastructure to attack Israel, including rockets and tunnels.

In recent months, the Palestinian Authority has withheld funding for electricity in Gaza.  Hamas in turn has refused to use electricity to operate Gaza’s waste treatment facility.  Yet the Palestinian Authority has laid blame for the crisis on Israel.

“The United States knows very well that the cause of the tragedy of the Gaza Strip is the unjust Israeli siege, and what is needed is political treatment of this issue,” said Ahmad Majdalani, an advisor to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s executive committee member, on Voice of Palestine radio.  Majdalani accused the U.S. of using the conference to “liquidate the Palestinian national project,” adding that the U.S. had no real concern for the residents of Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority has refused to engage the U.S. administration, since President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December.  Trump has threatened the Palestinian Authority with the cutting off of U.S. funding if the Palestinians refuse to enter into a new round of peace negotiations with Israel.

Comments

2 Responses to “Palestinian Authority to boycott White House conference on Gaza humanitarian crisis”
  1. Roy Sims says:

    What a human tragedy these hateful Palestinian leaders are visiting on their people.
    Golda Meir was right wasn’t she?
    Until they love their children more than they hate the Jews!!!!
    We can only pray for them.

  2. Erica edelman says:

    And the suffering of the children goes on..
    Part of the problem is the fact that these Arabs have
    No regard for “life “ – they are so obsessed with the
    Demolition of the Jewish State Of Israel they just can’t
    Get out of their own way..
    They go from catastrophe to catastrophe – finding ways in
    Which to blame Israel for the state in which they find
    Themselves ..
    Powerful and wealthy Arab states turn a blind eye to their
    Predicament. The powerful US should keep pressuring
    One way or another until they relinquish their puerile and fruitless
    Dreams to crush Israel. Perhaps then, when they realize
    Their own vulnerability will they come to the table to talk about
    What needs to be done to turn them into a democratic, prosperous and
    Caring nation of strong and worthy Arabs.
    Until then they are operating out of a position of self annihilation.

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