The United States Agency for International Development and the Calmification Industry in Palestine Israel’s conflict and the two

The United States for International Development (USAID) has opened its office in Palestine in 1994. Its website, which is no longer available, has been proud to be proud that since then, “four million Palestinians have helped lead a healthier and more productive life.”

Now that the agency has been closed by the administration of US President Donald Trump, it is appropriate to evaluate the claim that the US Agency for International Development was a force for good in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Undoubtedly, the effect of the agency’s closure on the Palestinians, especially those who benefit from its financing for educational and health institutions. The humanitarian rule was also affected, with the World Food Program, one of the main humanitarian actors in the occupied Palestinian territories, which faces the pioneer Disorders.

Although the negative impact in the short term is clear, the benefit of the American Agency for International Development and other American Finance becomes doubtful when putting in the largest political context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

As a researcher, I participated directly and indirectly in the evaluation of the programs funded by the American Agency for International Development for years, and I have seen directly how it contributed to preserving Israeli occupation and colonialism. The US agency was far from “helping” Palestinians who live a better life, as she claimed.

Calm

The American Agency for International Development has opened its western office and the Gaza Office in Gas as part of the broader American effort to lead and form a political settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis who started before Oslo Conventions From 1994.

The so -called Palestinian “peace process” promised an independent state on the lands occupied by Israel in 1967, with a final agreement that is supposed to be signed by 1999. It goes without saying, such an agreement has not been signed, because Israel has never aimed to conclude peace with the Palestinians and recognize their right to self -determination.

Instead, Oslo was used to cover up the colonization of Israel, which has no relentlessness for the occupied Palestinian territories in the peace negotiation speech. The establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a local ruling body in charge of the Civil Affairs Department of Palestinians in the specified areas was part of this strategy.

While the official Palestinian leadership depicts the Palestinian Authority as a transitional incubator that would manage daily life until an independent state was created, it was in the end. designer The United States is closely overseeing to work as a client system, and to manage and control the occupied population.

To achieve this purpose, the Palestinian Authority was obligated to engage in close coordination with the Israeli security forces to suppress any form of resistance in the areas it runs. Main security agencies – intelligence and preventive security service – have been created to fulfill this duty.

While the American intelligence agencies were assigned to support and train the Palestinian security services – to which millions of dollars have been transformed every year – the American Agency for International Development was assigned to support the civil jobs of the Palestinian Authority.

Between 1994 and 2018, USAID provided more than 5 dollars2BN With the help of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It funded infrastructure, health and education initiatives, with the aim of winning general support for peace negotiations.

Part of its financing has been transformed through civil society organizations with the main goals: the non -renewal of the Israeli -Palestinian conflict, and to plant a network of civil society actors who play this agenda.

The removal framework is dealt with control of the Palestinian issue as economic The human issue. This approach dealt with Palestinian economic and social problems in isolation – separate from its basic cause: the Israeli occupation.

He also sought to be annoyed by the Palestinian resistance by photographing it as a source of instability and chaos instead of a political response to the profession.

To distribute its financing, the US Agency for International Development has established a complex system of background tests, along with a set of Orwellian. The scrutiny extended beyond the individual to his extended family, the name of the place, and even the cultural context in which the money will be used – none of them can be linked to resistance.

In this context, it is difficult for the US International Development Agency programs to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians.

Normalization through people’s programs

Many of the United States Agency for International Development went to initiatives that sought to normalize Israeli colonialism by seeking to establish links between the Palestinians and Israelis. The hypothesis was that the two people “could learn to live together”, which of course ignored the facts of apartheid and occupation.

One of the programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development that I evaluated was the program of conflict and mitigation (CMM), which was promoted under the United States Agency for International Development. People partnership range. By 2018, CMM allocated more than $ 230 million to different initiatives and was appointed to distribute $ 250 million by 2026.

The program included projects targeting parents, farmers and students to enhance peacebuilding. One of these projects has sought to enhance cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli farmers through joint agricultural experiments.

During the discussion of the focus group, I spoke to a Palestinian farmer who explained that the production of Palestinian olive oil was stagnant because of the Israeli occupation regime, which restricts the arrival of Palestinian farmers to the water, and in some cases to their lands. He said, “These programs,” do not talk about these issues. “

When I asked why he participated, he explained that the project enabled him to obtain an Israeli travel permit – allowing him to work on Israeli farms and earn an income to survive.

The absurdity of this dynamic was striking: on paper, the program talked about strengthening productive relations between Palestinians and Israelis, and building a common and peaceful future where farmers become friends. In fact, Palestinian farmers signed so that they could travel and work on Israeli farms – many of which were established on the confiscated Palestinian territory. Participation in the program has not resolved any of the problems that Palestinian farmers faced in olive cultivation – that is, the Israeli occupation policies.

Another program funded by the American Agency for International Development, which was studied by the seeds of peace, made the task of combining young people from conflict areas who have the ability to become future leaders in their countries. The central activity of the program was a summer youth camp in a rich area in the US state of Min, where the participants participated in dialogue and leadership training.

The two largest groups were for Israeli and Palestinian participants. While the Israeli Ministry of Education was responsible for choosing the Israeli participants, the Peace Seed Seeds Office in Ramallah supervised the employment of the Palestinian participants. Each participant has benefited from a strongly supported program with Costs It reaches $ 8,000 per person.

A closer look at the lists of the participants over the years revealed an amazing style: the sons and daughters of the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and archaeological families appeared.

Current about this style, I once asked a program employee about it. The response was revealed: “In Palestinian society, the leadership often passes to the children of high -ranking officials.”

This means that the organization’s vision – and therefore, the vision of the political leadership in Palestine assumed that the authority in Palestinian policy is hereditary, and therefore, American initiatives must focus on the sons and daughters of the current elite.

Political intervention

The seeds of peace were not the only program that served to support the cadres of the Palestinian Authority and their families. Some relatives of high -ranking officials have received preferential treatment in securing the USA’s profitable international development contracts; Others led non -profit organizations funded by the agency.

The American Agency for International Development also participated indirectly in the political scene in Palestine by supporting the political actors that Washington prefers.

Between 2004 and 2006, it implemented a expansion program to promote democracy in the Palestinian territories in the period before the legislative elections for the year 2006. Although there is no direct evidence of financial support for candidates or the lists of specific parties, observers noted that civil society organizations (CSO) associated with the opening or the third method of candidates from the United States Agency for International Development. In some cases, this support was directed through organizations operating in non -relevant sectors.

Despite the great funding and political support, these groups failed to secure enough seats to prevent Hamas’s electoral victory. After Hamas took control of Gaza, the US Agency for International Development continued to support Palestinian Serbian organizations, in some cases, increasing their financing significantly.

Usaid also Backed the Police Force Under the Palestinian Authority, through the sovereignty of the law, although the largest part of the funding of the repressive security apparatus of the Palestinian Authority has come through the CIA, international drug control and law enforcement (INCle) in the US State Department.

A more modern and honest example of the US Agency’s problematic participation Disruption The pavement was designed by the US military in 2024 to facilitate the delivery of aid to Gaza, at a cost of $230 m. The project was promoted as a humanitarian initiative, and the United States Agency for International Development was one of the organizations in charge of distributing meager aid through which it came.

In fact, the sidewalk was a pioneer of public relations by the administration of former US President Joe Biden to conceal the American collusion in the siege of Gaza in Israel. The Israeli army also used it in a process that killed more than 200 Palestinians, raising serious questions about militarization and abuse of the infrastructure of the aid.

The Pier Garce is a good clarification of the US approach to providing aid to the Palestinians: this is never done in their interest.

It is true that some poor Palestinians may be affected by the closure of the US Agency for International Development in the West Bank and Gaza. However, it is unlikely to change the situation on the ground decisively. Aid cutting will have a more dramatic impact on the American strategy of benefiting from Palestinian civil society organizations to enhance the calm agenda and sustain empty discourse on peace.

In this regard, the US Agency for International Development can allow an opportunity for Palestinian civil society to reconsider its participation with the donors to the American government in light of its moral obligations towards the Palestinian people. It is clear that millions were poured into the calm did not succeed; It is time for a new approach that already serves the interests of the Palestinians.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the editorial island.