Report: Trump plans to cut foreign aid across world - but increase aid to Palestinians
WASHINGTON - Internal State Department documents that were published on Monday by Foreign Policy magazine show that while the Trump administration is preparing major cuts in U.S. foreign aid all across the world, one of the few areas where the administration actually wants to increase spending is the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza.
The documents are an internal budget plan that seems in line with the administration’s stated goal of a deep cut of more than a third of the State Department and USAID’s total budget. They show major cuts in foreign aid to numerous countries in all continents, but a small rise of 4.6% in foreign aid to the West Bank and Gaza, which would go up to $215 million for the 2018 fiscal year.
In addition to these territories, other places in the Middle East that would see increased aid spending are Syria, Iraq and Libya, which will all see hundreds of millions of dollars invested should the budget proposal gets approved. All other countries in the Middle East that appear in the document, however, will suffer severe cuts in aid.
The document proposes a 47.4% cut to Egypt’s aid - a surprising policy in light of the warm and friendly way in which Trump has treated Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi. It also proposed a 21% cut to foreign aid to Jordan, whose leader, King Abdullah, is the only world leader to have been invited to meet the president twice since his inauguration.
WASHINGTON - Internal State Department documents that were published on Monday by Foreign Policy magazine show that while the Trump administration is preparing major cuts in U.S. foreign aid all across the world, one of the few areas where the administration actually wants to increase spending is the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza.
The documents are an internal budget plan that seems in line with the administration’s stated goal of a deep cut of more than a third of the State Department and USAID’s total budget. They show major cuts in foreign aid to numerous countries in all continents, but a small rise of 4.6% in foreign aid to the West Bank and Gaza, which would go up to $215 million for the 2018 fiscal year.
In addition to these territories, other places in the Middle East that would see increased aid spending are Syria, Iraq and Libya, which will all see hundreds of millions of dollars invested should the budget proposal gets approved. All other countries in the Middle East that appear in the document, however, will suffer severe cuts in aid.
The document proposes a 47.4% cut to Egypt’s aid - a surprising policy in light of the warm and friendly way in which Trump has treated Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi. It also proposed a 21% cut to foreign aid to Jordan, whose leader, King Abdullah, is the only world leader to have been invited to meet the president twice since his inauguration.