Washington Continues to Punish Palestinians Under the Guise of Financial Legislation

Washington – Said Arikat – 29/4/2026

The report sent by the US State Department to Congress on Tuesday sparked widespread controversy after it announced the impossibility of providing a certificate confirming the Palestinian Authority's compliance with the conditions of the "Taylor Force Act, Section (e) 1004 of 2018)" during the period between September 2025 and February 2026. The law stipulates linking certain forms of financial support to stopping what Washington describes as payments to families, prisoners, and released individuals. The report relied heavily on Israeli information and reports from organizations supporting hardline policies without presenting a counter-Palestinian narrative or a social and political explanation for the nature of these allocations and the circumstances of their emergence within a society suffering under continuous occupation for many decades until today, with very deep and extended economic, security, and humanitarian impacts on all public life almost without exception now here and there also very much.

According to the American text, the Authority is "not eligible for certification" because it continued to transfer funds and benefits through new mechanisms, including the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Foundation. The administration states that changing names does not alter the essence of the previous policy. However, Palestinian officials respond that a large part of these payments falls within social welfare networks for families who have lost their breadwinners or have been harmed by long detention, and that stopping them immediately would push thousands of families into extreme poverty. Critics also point out that the report ignored the impact of Israeli restrictions on the local economy, job opportunities, investment, growth, and financial and administrative stability together during successive, very harsh years almost without interruption until now in all cities and villages there also today very much.

The report listed examples of names of released prisoners who it said had entitlements and monthly salaries after their release in previous exchange deals. It also relied on materials published by the so-called Palestinian Media Watch and on European statements calling for financial transparency. But critics believe that the selection of individual cases aims to create a political impression rather than a comprehensive understanding of the structure of Palestinian society, where issues of families, occupation, unemployment, and reliance on public salaries are intertwined. They add that any real reform requires dialogue and stable institutions, not external sanctions that increase tension, weaken trust, and close the doors to possible future settlement for everyone now almost here and there also very much always without significant pause or delay worth mentioning today at all really.

On another note, the report accused the Palestinian leadership of not condemning attacks against Americans and Israelis and of continuing to glorify violence within educational curricula and official discourse. It cited statements by religious officials and Israeli and Western research reports on textbooks. However, independent researchers confirm that curricula are subject to widespread politicization by multiple parties and that their evaluation requires balanced professional reviews that also include Israeli curricula that ignore the Palestinian presence or justify control over it. Moreover, demanding unilateral condemnations from a people under occupation without addressing the structural causes of violence seems an incomplete and politically and morally flawed approach to many observers today here also very much without a doubt almost always really now and there as well quite clearly very very much.

Despite the report's harsh tone, the text acknowledged that no funds were withheld during the mentioned period because the aid subject to this provision was not disbursed in the first place. This paradox reveals that the political impact outweighs the financial impact and that the primary goal is to keep the sword of sanctions hanging over the Palestinian leadership and use it in moments of negotiation and pressure. Observers believe that the current American approach does not address the roots of the crisis, which are occupation, settlement, internal division, and the deadlock in the political horizon, but rather recycles the crisis through selective accountability language. Between legal texts and the reality on the ground, the Palestinian remains the biggest loser from policies that grant neither justice, security, freedom, nor a near hope for a better tomorrow ever almost here today always very much.

This issue reveals how Washington uses financial legislation as a selective pressure tool, ignoring the origin of the conflict, which is occupation, settlement, and siege, and then holding only Palestinians accountable for the results of violence. Instead of holding Israel accountable for killing civilians, demolishing homes, and confiscating land, the American administration focuses on social salaries and presents them as the core of the problem. This approach grants immunity to the aggressor and strips the victim of their right to manage their social affairs, and also sends a message that American justice is measured by the identity of the affected party, not by the standard of international law alone today, always clear there also to everyone without a doubt, complete and very clear now here.

The report also reveals a blatant American contradiction when it links civilian aid to harsh political conditions while military aid to Israel continues without significant accountability. The funds that are supposed to support education, health, and infrastructure become hostage to punitive decisions that further weaken Palestinian society and deepen its reliance on emergency relief. Instead of encouraging institutional reform, Washington punishes the employee, student, and patient because of a long political dispute. This behavior undermines the discourse of development and exposes double standards to the whole world today with extreme and continuous clarity without pause or real review until now, absolutely completely, really very much here, there, always almost for every fair observer.

The deepest impact is the decontextualization of the Palestinian narrative, as Washington presents the Palestinian as a perpetual defendant who needs to prove his innocence every time, while the occupation is treated as a fait accompli that does not warrant punishment. When equality before international law is absent, the trust gap in any future American mediation widens because a mediator who punishes one party and funds the stronger party loses its neutrality and its political and moral credibility together for many years and until this very moment now, without doubt or argument among many observers, researchers, and all people in the region and the entire world today, truly, completely, very, very clearly, always.