US to restore aid to Palestinians, says State Department

Assistance was suspended by Trump administration

The US State Department on Tuesday announced its intent to restore humanitarian aid to the Palestinians after it was suspended by the Trump administration.

State Department Spokesman Ned Price said restoration of aid was in the US interest.

“The US does intend to restore aid to the Palestinian people. We are not doing that as a favour, but because it is in the interest of the United States to do so,” Mr Price said.

He said that the suspension of aid under the previous administration had produced neither political progress nor secured concessions from the Palestinian leadership.

The Trump administration in 2018 cut nearly $200 million in economic aid to the Palestinians and suspended another $350m in funding to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which assists hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.

Mr Price said the newly appointed deputy assistant secretary of state for Palestine and Israel, Hady Amr, had already established contact with Palestinian and Israeli officials.

Political communications between the Palestinian Authority and the Trump administration came to a halt in 2018 after former president Donald Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.

President Joe Biden has not called either Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since assuming office. When asked why he has not yet communicated with the Israeli leader, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, "[Mr Biden] hasn't called every foreign leader yet."

"I expect he'll continue to have additional engagements in the weeks ahead," she said.

Mr Price also said the Biden administration had not had any contact with Iranian officials.

He said the focus for newly appointed envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, is on contacts with "allies, partners and members of Congress".

“[We will be] consulting with our allies, consulting with our partners, consulting with Congress, before [we reach] the point where we're going to engage directly with the Iranians and willing to entertain any sort of proposal,” Mr Price said.

The new US administration declared its intention to return to the nuclear deal that Mr Trump abandoned in 2018, but only if Iran showed full compliance.

"The United States would do the same thing and then use that as a platform to build a longer and stronger agreement that also addresses other areas of concern", a State Department official said last week.

Later on Tuesday, the State Department announced that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a call with Swiss President Guy Parmelin. Switzerland has played the role of protector of US interests in Iran since relations were severed in 1979 and played the role of mediator and humanitarian channel between the two countries.

“Secretary Blinken thanked President Parmelin for Switzerland’s continuing commitment as the protecting power for the United States in Iran,” the statement said. Bilateral relations and “their joint commitment to multilateralism, including on human rights, climate change and global health” were also discussed.