Saudi Arabia has reportedly offered to resume financial aid to the Palestinian Authority in a move apparently aimed at gaining the PA’s support for the kingdom’s efforts to normalize relations with Israel.
Citing unidentified Saudi officials, news reports said the aid offer was not being directly linked to approval for a deal with Israel, but was being conditioned on the PA regaining control in the West Bank, cracking down on Palestinian militants and curbing the violence that has spiked this year.
Saudi aid to the PA was first cut in 2016 and has fallen to zero in recent years. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly first made the offer to renew aid when PA President Mahmoud Abbas visited Saudi Arabia in April, saying funding would be restored if Abbas managed to rein in the violence and restore control over PA territories, and promising that any deal with Israel would not harm efforts to establish a Palestinian state.
The reports said the offer to renew aid is not only being made to win approval from the PA, but also to mollify the critics within the kingdom and in the Muslim world in general for an eventual Saudi normalization agreement with Israel.
The reports said the PA will be sending a senior delegation to Saudi Arabia next week for talks with Saudi officials. Some said the PA officials are expected to urge the Saudis to include stipulations for a Palestinian state in any agreement with Israel.
However, the PA’s legitimacy among Palestinians is at one of its lowest points in years, and the PA has little control over parts of the West Bank, particularly the northern city of Jenin, from where multiple attacks have been carried out by Palestinians on Israelis in recent years. This raises questions over the ability of the PA to comply with the Saudi conditions.