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Ahmad Majdalani

US President Donald Trump (left) greets Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a summit on Gaza in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025. (Evan Vucci / POOL / AFP)
July 19, 2026, 5:19 pm
US claims PA’s prisoner payments reform a con, dismissing audit that suggested otherwise
While external review found welfare payments now conditioned on financial status instead of prison sentence, State Department says it didn’t examine ‘clandestine bypass channels’
By Jacob Magid
Demonstrators gather with placards bearing portraits of Palestinians currently detained by Israel, during a protest in solidarity with them in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
July 10, 2026, 10:22 pm
PA says external audit proves payments incentivizing attacks on Israelis have ended
Ramallah hoping results of external review will grant legitimacy to welfare reform long demanded by international community and will lead Trump administration to conduct similar assessment
By Jacob Magid
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas outside the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, May 22, 2025. (AP/Hassan Ammar)
September 16, 2025, 6:26 pm
PA document shows ‘pay-to-slay’ has been scrapped, new system in place
Ramallah says 3,000 people who received stipends based on prison sentence length are now ineligible, while 2,000 households will be added under new program based on financial need
By Jacob Magid and Nurit Yohanan
US President Donald Trump reaches to shake Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's hand before a meeting at the Palace Hotel during the 72nd United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2017, in New York. (AFP Photo/ Brendan Smialowski)
March 5, 2025, 3:52 pm
Abbas confidant: If Trump advances Gaza ‘expulsion’ plan, PA will cut ties with US
Ahmad Majdalani says Ramallah wants to turn page with Washington after bitter first term, is maintaining contacts because it doesn’t see president’s proposal being implemented
By Jacob Magid
PLO Executive Committee member Ahmad Majdalani in his Ramallah office in 2024. (Courtesy)
March 4, 2025, 4:07 pm
Seeking funds abroad, Abbas ally touts prisoner payment reform that’s ‘unpopular’ at home
Tapped to head welfare fund replacing ‘pay-to-slay,’ Ahmad Majdalani says it’ll be strictly need-based, and should suffice for US and Israel to scrap ‘unjust’ sanctions on Ramallah
By Jacob Magid
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas listens while US President Donald Trump makes a statement for the press before a meeting at the Palace Hotel during the 72nd United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2017, in New York. (AFP/Brendan Smialowski/ File)
February 10, 2025, 10:27 pm
In major win for Trump, PA’s Abbas signs decree ending ‘pay-to-slay’ system
Reform will bring families of security prisoners and slain terrorists into same welfare system as other Palestinians, be based on economic need; move was largely finalized in Biden era
By Jacob Magid
China's President Xi Jinping and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attend a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 14, 2023. (Jade GAO / POOL / AFP)
June 15, 2023, 8:06 pm
Having given up on the US, Palestinians look to China to mediate peace with Israel
PA minister Ahmad Majdalani tells ToI that Beijing can use billions in trade as leverage to coax Jerusalem to come to the table as Washington’s influence on the global stage wanes
By Jacob Magid
Israeli soldiers gesture to a vehicle at Tapuah Junction, next to a campaign poster for opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu near the West Bank town of Nablus, October 16, 2022. (Tsafrir Abayov/AP)
November 3, 2022, 2:15 pm
‘It’s all the same’: As Israel’s far-right surges in election, Palestinians shrug
Amid apathy in West Bank, and anger at Lapid for continuing some of Netanyahu’s policies, some activists find reason for optimism: ‘It will lead to some international pressure’
By Agencies and ToI Staff
View from above the Manara Square in the center of the West Bank city of Ramallah, September 11, 2011. (Nati Shohat/FLASH90)
August 27, 2021, 4:56 pm
Israel, PA discuss potential aid to Ramallah amid fears of economic collapse
Officials tell ToI Israel could send as much as $247 million to support Ramallah, which has seen international aid dwindle over past year and is in dire economic state
By Aaron Boxerman and Jacob Magid
Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel attends a meeting of Egyptian and Sudanese foreign ministers and heads of intelligence at Tahrir Palace, in Cairo, Egypt, February 8, 2018. (Khaled Elfiqi/Pool photo via AP)
August 9, 2021, 6:04 am
Incoming, outgoing national security advisers meet Egyptian intel chief in Cairo
Eyal Hulata and Meir Ben-Shabbat reportedly sit down with Abbas Kamel to discuss maintaining Gaza ceasefire brokered more than two months ago by Egypt
By ToI Staff
Palestinians receive their financial aid as part of assistance given by Qatar, at a post office in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 6, 2020. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
August 5, 2021, 10:33 pm
PA official: Deal reached to send Qatari cash to Gaza, but challenges remain
Palestinian banks reportedly concerned over international sanctions should they transfer funds to Gazans linked to Hamas
By Aaron Boxerman and Jacob Magid
Palestinians protest in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 9, 2021, in solidarity with Palestinian families facing Israeli eviction orders in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. (ABBAS MOMANI / AFP)
May 14, 2021, 3:44 pm
With Israel and Gaza already beset by chaos, West Bank ‘explosion’ looms
Palestinian Authority security forces have cracked down on some protests; Hamas’s influence said to be spreading widely in the area, sparking fears that relative calm may not last
By Aaron Boxerman
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah, August 18, 2020. (Flash90)
April 26, 2021, 5:28 pm
Abbas expected to delay election, but could pay heavy price – diplomatic source
A decision to push off the vote may alienate international partners, source says; Palestinians have not held a national election for 15 years
By Aaron Boxerman
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah, August 18, 2020. (Flash90)
April 22, 2021, 12:32 am
Palestinian groups to meet soon for final decision on holding election: official
Vote scheduled for May 22, but Ramallah demanding participation of East Jerusalem Palestinians; Abbas’s opponents say it’s an excuse to cancel
By Aaron Boxerman
Palestinian faction leaders gather to discuss holding Palestinian national elections, in Cairo on February 8, 2021 (WAFA)
March 16, 2021, 11:06 pm
Palestinian factions pledge ‘transparent’ election without violent intimidation
Fatah, Hamas and dozen other groups sign on to ‘honor code’ governing upcoming vote, which includes ban on brandishing weapons at rallies
By Aaron Boxerman
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