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 paym
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