RAMALLAH, Thursday, January 31, 2019 (WAFA) – Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee, Saeb Erekat, said on Thursday that US aid to the Palestinian security services will come to an end as of Friday, February 1, 2019, at the request of the Palestinian leadership.

In a joint press conference with Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Erekat said that Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has sent a letter to the US State Department asking them to end the US aid as of January 31 to avoid any lawsuits against the Palestinian leadership under the Anti-Terrorist Act passed last year by the US Congress. The Act will enter into force on February 1, 2019.

“We do not want to receive any money if it will cause us to appear before the courts,” he said, adding that the new US law states that any government that receives funding will be subject to US counterterrorism laws.

Erekat added that “the US administration has cut $844 million to the Palestinian people and institutions, leading to the suspension of road projects, schools, sewage and water projects. These projects have not been completed in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”

He stressed that the cessation of US aid to the security services will not affect the work of these devices during the year 2019.

“We are not in need of this [US] assistance… We simply say, Jerusalem is not for sale,” the PLO Secretary-General said.

M.N