Saudi Arabia has transferred $90 million to the Palestinian Authority, as the leadership of the occupied West Bank buckles under the strain of a financial crisis and punitive measures from Israel.
Fearing the authority's collapse, countries such as Saudi Arabia and France have launched a push to raise funds. But the organisation remains vulnerable amid wider security turmoil, with many employees receiving reduced monthly salaries.
Saudi Arabia’s charge d’affaires in Jordan, Mohamed Mounis, said the grant was a show of his country's commitment to the authority and Palestinians more broadly. Palestinian Vice President Hussein Al Sheikh thanked Saudi Arabia, saying the money would help his people “confront the difficult economic and financial conditions that Palestine is going through”.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a West Bank settler who is strongly opposed to the PA, has withheld monthly Israeli transfers of revenue to the authority, in response to several western countries recognising Palestinian statehood. The minister had withheld money throughout the Gaza war, further weakening the organisation.
Opposition to the money transfers in Israel centres on controversial payments the PA makes to the families of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and attackers who have been killed. PA President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree in February revoking laws related to the payments, known as “pay for slay” in Israel. Official Palestinian media reported at the time that previous beneficiaries of the laws would still be entitled to apply for assistance based on need.
There is also opposition to a portion of the funds that used to be sent to the Gaza Strip. The financial arrangements, which came into force shortly after the 1994 Oslo Accords, give Israel a vast amount of leverage over the PA. The money provided to Ramallah, made up of tax revenue that Israel collects on Palestinian imports, makes up most of its income.
Israel collects the revenue, which should then be sent to the PA, subject to the approval of Israel's Finance Ministry, currently headed by Mr Smotrich.
Israel faced pressure to make payments during the Gaza war, most consequentially from the Biden administration in Washington, but the Trump administration does not appear to be applying the same level of pressure.
