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How much aid does Palestine receive every year from the US? I'm looking for unbiased sources, because a pro-Israel source will likely overstate it and a pro-Palestine source will likely understate it.

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  • I edited your question to avoid making the issue about your petitions.
    – user1530
    Commented Mar 21, 2015 at 3:03
  • Re: your "defund Israel" - you are aware that a large chunk of that "funding" is in military aid that is contractually obligated to be spent on buying products from US military-industrial complex and thus contributing to US GDP, right? :)
    – user4012
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 20:58
  • @DVK: that is irrelevant. Cost versus benefit.
    – user5366
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 21:22
  • @Jack - the benefit of raising the GDP is a benefit for anyone but an accountant :)
    – user4012
    Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 13:17
  • @DVK Military spending tends to have lower fiscal multipliers, and Israel needs to spend only 75% of our aid on US goods. There are a number of good reasons to fund Israel, fiscal multipliers aren't one of them.
    – Publius
    Commented Apr 5, 2015 at 0:24

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According to a report from the Congressional Research Service, the US has given an average of $400 million or so per year in an economic support fund, and around $100 million per year in security assistance funds, since FY2008. (In FY2015, it's $370M in economic support, $70M in security assistance; the numbers are skewed high by abnormally high aid in FY2009, and other years have seen around half the aid of that year). Economic support aid is distributed partly by USAID via vetted contractors, and partly directly to the Palestinian Authority under waivers issued by the President (the waiver numbers fluctuate a lot year-to-year, but have totaled $900M under Obama's administration as of 2014; this is taken out of the economic support fund). So, the average is around $500M/year in aid administered by the US.

In addition, the US is a major contributor to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), giving around $250M/year to them. Add that in, and an average is in the ballpark of $750M/year, with some fluctuation (but that's around the amount; more details are in that report).

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    Awesome! Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for. Very unbiased, factual, and no political propaganda involved. I tried to upvote you, but I don't have enough of a reputation. When I do, I'll come back and give you your due credit.
    – user5366
    Commented Mar 22, 2015 at 4:31
  • Straightforward answer, and I like the mention of the UNRWA. +1
    – Publius
    Commented Mar 23, 2015 at 18:07
  • This doesn't seem to include private charitable giving (whether that's in scope for the question is not clear to me)
    – user4012
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 20:56
  • @DVK: what private charities do is a lot harder for the people to have a say in, and does not affect US tax dollars. Charitable contributions, whether to Israel or Palestine, are still voluntarily paid by the people who contribute.
    – user5366
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 21:23

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