Following a report that the US may cut over $5 billion in aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as punishment for the latter's open incitement to terrorism during the current terror wave in October, the PA has responded with scorn.
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Member Dr. Ahmed Majdalani, a leading member of the PLO terror organization that is behind the PA, was exposed by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) Thursday after he scoffed at the threat as quoted by Fatah's Information and Culture Commission website last week.
In an article that ran under the headling: "Majdalani: 'The decrease in American aid is a traditional means of pressure which will not cause the Palestinian leadership to concede its national position,'" the PLO leader argued the move will have no effect on the PA.
The article quoted Majdalani from an interview with Radio Mawtini, when he said, "this is not the first time that the US is decreasing the aid to the Palestinian people as part of its pressure on the Palestinian leadership to change its political position."
"This is a traditional step that has already failed (previously)," asserted Majdalani, indicating earlier attempts by Congress that were thwarted by US presidents.
Majdalani also emphasized that a cut in US aid has already failed to influence "Palestinian political decision making," noting that the terror incitement has not been affected.
The PA's contempt of the announced cut in US aid is likely a result of past experience, when such steps initiated by Congress have been temporary and overruled by US Presidents.
US President Barack Obama overruled one such move in a waiver on July 26, 2013, in which he canceled a Congressional move to cut funding.
"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America...I hereby certify that it is important to the national security interests of the United States to waive the provisions...in order to provide funds appropriated to carry out chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act, as amended, to the Palestinian Authority," wrote Obama in the waiver.