PA PM Hamdallah: The US has not paid one dollar in aid to the PA in 2016

PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah: "Since last year, there is a financial siege on the Palestinian government. The aid has decreased greatly, reaching a drop of 62% compared to 2011. For example, let's speak frankly, the US approved $263 million in 2016 as aid to the government. Look, 2016 is about to end, no shekel or agora, or dinar or dollar has been paid, if we speak frankly. We hope that this aid money will be paid. There are also many [other] countries that have not supplied their aid. The countries that have given their aid, and we always thank them, are the European Union, which always [gives] consistently and according to what is expected. When we plan the budget we know that the EU will pay. We thank Saudi Arabia, as President [Abbas] said at the Seventh Fatah Conference, and we thank Algeria. These are the countries that actually support our budget.” [Facebook page of Palestinian Authority PM Rami Hamdallah, Dec. 8, 2016; Interview with Voice of Palestine Radio]