The United States, bitterly disenchanted with Yasser Arafat, is withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinian Authority. After the Wye agreement in October 1998, the Clinton Administration earmarked about $1.2 billion for Israel and $500 million for the PA. Most of the money for the Palestinians has never been delivered; neither has $30 million designated for Palestinian NGOs. Indeed, the Bush Administration is now understood to be reassessing its overall policy on Arafat. While still pressing the PA chairman in late January to block intifada violence, it has effectively suspended the mediation efforts of former general ...
