PA announces aid package to Palestinians in Jordan Valley

The aid package was announced by PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh after a joint meeting of the PLO Executive Committee, the Fatah Central Council and the Palestinian cabinet in the Jordan Valley village of Fasayil.

After the meeting, the Palestinians held a rally to protest the annexation plan, the second of its kind this week.

Shtayyeh pledged to cover Palestinian farmers’ debts to the PA government, provide loans to investors working in the area, raise the salary of PA employees living in the Jordan Valley, and build three new schools in the area.

The PA government will allocate water wells that would pump three and half million cubic meters of water for the benefit of farmers and purchase five tractors for agricultural organizations operating in the Jordan Valley, Shtayyeh said.

The aid package, he added, includes creating job opportunities for Palestinians who work in Jewish settlements, initiating infrastructure projects at the cost of NIS 11.5 million in all the villages in the Jordan Valley, offering a 75% discount in construction permits for anyone who wants to build a new house there, as well as granting 30 scholarships for students majoring in medicine and agricultural engineering.

“We are no strangers to the Palestinian [Jordan] Valley,” Shtayyeh said. “It is the vegetable basket of Palestine. It has 250,000 palm trees and contains 30% of the West Bank’s water.”

Shtayyeh said that the Palestinians were determined to prevent Israel from proceeding with its plan to extend its sovereignty to parts of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley. “We won’t give the [Jordan] Valley to the occupation,” he said. “All the countries of the world are united in their opposition to the annexation.”