President Biden on Friday introduced $100 million in U.S. help for East Jerusalem hospitals that deal with Palestinians, as his administration strikes to revive a lot of the help for Palestinians that former President Trump had ended.
Talking at August Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, Mr. Biden mentioned that Palestinians and Israelis “deserve equal measure of freedom, safety, prosperity, and dignity,” including that “entry to well being care if you want it’s important to residing a lifetime of dignity for all of us.”
“The U.S. will proceed to work with Palestinian management and the federal government of Israel and all our worldwide companions to make sure that East Jerusalem’s hospital community stays sustainable and out there, and is ready to present high-quality well being care the Palestinian individuals deserve,” Mr. Biden mentioned.
“These hospitals are the spine of the Palestinian well being care system,” he mentioned.
The August Victoria Hospital gives superior medical care, together with remedy for most cancers sufferers and pediatric kidney dialysis to Palestinians within the occupied West Financial institution and Gaza.
It’s operated by the Lutheran World Federation and was in extreme debt on the finish of 2021, based on a letter the hospital despatched to U.S. lawmakers in Could. A lot of that debt is as a result of the Palestinian Authority has struggled financially.
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The help should nonetheless be accepted by the U.S. Congress and might be paid out over a number of years, the White Home mentioned. It’s on prime of an additional $201 million the United Nations gives to Palestinian refugees.
In 2018, Mr. Trump slashed $25 million in assist that the U.S. was offering to hospitals that had been treating Palestinians. It was a part of his resolution to droop a lot of the general assist the U.S. doled out to Palestine.