Biden vows to resume aid to Palestinians, reopen PLO mission

The Democratic presidential nominee pledged to send aid to the Palestinians, which President Trump cut off to prevent it from being used to pay the salaries of terrorists and their families.

By JNS

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that if elected president, he would reopen the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Mission in Washington, D.C., and restore U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

The presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee also reiterated that he would reopen the U.S. consulate in the eastern portion of Jerusalem, which served the Palestinians.

“A priority now for the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace should be resuming our dialogue with the Palestinians and pressing Israel not to take actions that make a two-state solution impossible,” Biden told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a statement.

Biden said he would “find a way to reopen the PLO’s diplomatic mission in Washington, and resume the decades-long economic and security assistance efforts to the Palestinians that the Trump administration stopped.”

The Trump administration has virtually cut off all U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority due to Ramallah’s “pay to slay” program, rewarding terrorists and their families. The PLO mission was closed in October 2018.

Biden has already pledged to keep the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, a move that was made from Tel Aviv in May 2018, five months after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.