Why Obama sent the Palestinians $221 million during his last hours in office

Alex Lockie Jan 24, 2017, 10:27 PM GMT

On Monday the Associated Press reported that as one of Barack Obama's final actions in office before the inauguration of President Donald Trump, he released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority.

However, the payment itself has been frozen by the State Department under President Trump.

The money came from federal aid the US provides to the West Bank and Gaza, aid that totaled about $355 million in 2015. The sum released by Obama during his last hours in office had been held up by a group in Congress that included Reps. Ed Royce of California and Kay Granger of Texas.

"The easiest way to sum it up is that Congress had been looking at various behaviors from Palestine — unilateral attempts at statehood, corruption, incitement of violence, and paying salaries to people in jail for terrorism — and that's why the hold has been there," Dr. Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Business Insider.

Schanzer characterized the move by Obama as both shocking and "a strange message to send."

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https://www.businessinsider.com/obama-queitly-sends-221-million-to-palestine-2017-1