Australia ends direct aid to Palestinian Authority

Australia today said it has ended direct aid to the Palestinian Authority because Australian donations could increase the self-governing body's capacity to pay Palestinians convicted of politically motivated violence.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia had cut funding to the World Bank's Multi-Donor Trust Fund for the Palestinian Recovery and Development Program after writing to the Palestinian Authority in late May seeking assurance that Australian funding was not going to Palestinian criminals.

"I am confident that previous Australian funding to the PA through the World Bank has been used as intended. However, I am concerned that in providing funds for this aspect of the PA's operations there is an opportunity for it to use its own budget to (fund) activities that Australia would never support," Bishop said in a statement.

"Any assistance provided by the Palestine Liberation Organization to those convicted of politically motivated violence is an affront to Australian values and undermines the prospect of meaningful peace between Israel and the Palestinians," she added.

Australia's 10 million Australian dollar ($7.4 million) donation to the trust fund will now be re-routed to the United Nations' Humanitarian Fund for the Palestinian Territories which provides vulnerable Palestinians with health care, food, water, improved sanitation and shelter.

Australia allocated AU$43 million for humanitarian assistance in the region for the current fiscal year, which began on July 1.

In March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US government for passing a law that suspended some financial aid to the Palestinians over the stipends paid to families of Palestinians killed or jailed in fighting with Israel.

The Taylor Force Act, named after an American killed in Israel by a Palestinian in 2016, was folded into a $1.3 trillion spending bill signed by President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu called the law a "powerful signal by the U.S. that changes the rules" by cutting "hundreds of millions of dollars for the Palestinian Authority that they invest in encouraging terrorism."