Congressmen push ‘international fund for peace’ bill

A bill introduced by two US Congressmen calling for a fund focused on Israeli-Palestinian grassroots peace-making efforts, would earmark at least $50 million a year.

Two US Congressmen, Republican Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska and Democrat Joseph Crowley of New York, introduced a bill earlier this week calling for the US to create a fund to promote Israeli-Palestinian cooperation, according to a report in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The legislation, referred to as, “International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace Authorization Act,” would earmark at least $50 million per year to the fund through 2021. Additionally, the Palestinian Authority, Israel and other Middle Eastern governments would play important roles.

Joel Braunold, executive director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a consortium of different organizations that claims to work on, “conflict transformation, development, coexistence and cooperative activities” between Israelis and Palestinians, spoke of what he felt was the project’s capability in helping Israelis and Palestinians move forward from a snowballing “incredulity gap.”

“The initiative establishes a tried and tested institutional approach to ensure that the populations move their leaders closer together, rather than drive them further apart,” Braunold said. “As the new administration begins the hard work of Middle East peacemaking, one of the consequences from previous failures has been an incredulity gap that now exists between the two peoples.”

President Donald Trump, who has tasked his son-in-law Jared Kushner with pursuing a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, has said that if Kushner “can’t produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can.”

By: World Israel News Staff