Saudi Arabia, France, Norway and Spain launch global fundraising campaign for PA

France, Norway, Spain and Saudi Arabia are working to rally countries around an emergency aid package to prevent the Palestinian Authority’s collapse while Israel withholds hundreds of millions of dollars that belong to Ramallah, according to a letter to potential donor states obtained by The Times of Israel.

For four consecutive months, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been refusing to transfer clearance revenues that Israel collects on the PA’s behalf. These funds make up the majority of Ramallah’s budget and their withholding has brought the PA to brink of collapse.

The letter to potential donor countries who will be attending a French-Saudi two-state solution conference at the UN on Monday says that participants are expected to demand Israel release the Palestinian funds.

However, organizers appear resigned to the possibility that Jerusalem will not budge on the issue and therefore have set a fundraising goal of $200 million for each of the next six months to cover the PA’s operating expenses.

“Support to the recovery of the private sector and the functioning of essential commercial actors, including Palestinian banks, is also needed,” the letter says.

A European diplomat tells The Times of Israel that the four participating countries have already agreed to donate $200 million a month to the PA for six months, but are hoping that other countries help share the burden.

“The Palestinian Authority is engaged in implementing an ambitious reform agenda, aiming at structural transformations that lay the foundation for a modern, transparent, and accountable State,” say the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, France, Norway and Spain, as they seek to justify another international fundraising campaign for Ramallah.

Saudi Arabia’s inclusion in the effort is particularly noteworthy, as Riyadh previously was one of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s biggest critics, accusing him of corruption.

The leading Arab country’s inclusion in the effort gives Ramallah’s recent reform efforts a boost of legitimacy.

The letter says the PA is facing an “existential threat” due to the withholding of clearance revenues on top of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, settler violence in the West Bank and blocks on transfers to Palestinian banks.

“A viable Palestinian state capable of fulfilling the needs and aspirations of the Palestinian people will be essential for a future of peace and
security in the Middle East,” the four countries say.

“We therefore need to urgently mobilize to prevent a financial collapse of the Palestinian Authority, with severe implications for Palestinian society, regional stability, and international security,” the letter continues. “Financial shortcoming cannot be the cause of the failure of the Palestinian State and destabilization of the Middle East.”

“We need to act now, and with this objective, we propose to swiftly coordinate in the coming days an emergency coalition for Palestine,” the letter states.