The Turnbull government is stopping its $10 million funding to the Palestinian government through the World Bank out of concern it might be freeing up other money to support convicted terrorists.
Instead, the money will be spent through a United Nations program to pay for health care, food, water, improved sanitation and shelter, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in a statement on Monday.
Australia’s existing funding was going to the World Bank Multi-Donor Trust Fund, which supports the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. Ms Bishop said she wrote to the Palestinian Authority asking for assurances that Australian money was “not being used to assist Palestinians convicted of politically motivated violence”.
Read the article by David Wroe in The Sydney Morning Herald.