Appropriators warn Palestinians on violence

Leaders on the House Appropriations Committee Thursday called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to denounce the growing terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens.

The lawmakers stopped short of threatening to halt aid to the Palestinians but signaled that could be a possibility down the road.

{mosads}U.S. financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority is predicated on the “commitment to countering terrorism and pursuing a comprehensive peace with Israel,” the lawmakers warned in a letter. 

The letter was signed by Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), ranking member Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the State Department and foreign operations.

“We are profoundly concerned that the cycle of violent behavior threatens to spiral even further out of control,” they wrote. “The situation clearly demands leadership, and we implore you to take decisive steps to stop the incitement and spread of violence.”

U.S. law also clearly says that the Palestinian Authority must counter the incitement of violence against Israelis in order to continue receiving aid, the lawmakers said.

The appropriators said they remain “resolute” in their commitment to those conditions. 

Their letter comes just days after two Palestinian men slaughtered four rabbis and a police officer after entering a Jerusalem synagogue with knives, a gun and meat cleavers. Three U.S. citizens were among the five killed during the attack.

Violence has significantly escalated in the last month across Israel and become especially pronounced in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill called on the Obama administration to cut off aid to the Palestinians, after they formed a unity government with Hamas, considered to be a terrorist group by both the U.S. and Israel.

The administration rejected those calls because officials believed the government would still be committed to avoiding violence. The State Department’s fiscal 2015 budget request from earlier this year asks Congress to approve $370 million for the Palestinian Authority.