Russia may continue to provide financial aid to the Palestinian National Authority

Sunday, March 7, 2021

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Russia may continue to provide financial aid to the Palestinian National Authority, the Foreign Ministry's special envoy to the Middle East said Monday. Sergei Yakovlev said the Middle East Quartet involved in mediating the Israeli-Palestinian peace process would discuss possible means of providing aid to Palestinians at its upcoming meeting. When asked by journalists whether Russia would continue to provide aid, he said: "The possibility is not ruled out." The Russian government provided $10 million in urgent financial aid to the Palestinian National Authority on May 4. The Foreign Ministry said: "In view of the aggravating socioeconomic and humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories, the Russian government has decided to offer urgent financial aid to the Palestinian National Authority, totaling $10 million." The funds, intended to be used for social and humanitarian needs, were transferred to an account of PNA President Mahmoud Abbas's office, the ministry said, adding that the transaction had been coordinated with the Middle East Quartet, comprising Russia, the EU, the United States and the United Nations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last month it would be wrong to halt aid to the Palestinian National Authority because of radical Islamic group Hamas' dominance of its new government, in an apparent reference to the EU's decision to freeze its aid to the PNA indefinitely. Hamas had claimed responsibility in the past for a number of terrorists acts in the region, and is on the list of terrorist organizations both in Europe and the United States. Russia does not classify it as a terrorist group, however, and was the first country to invite its delegation to talks in March, a move that one Israeli politician called a "stab in the back".

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