Trump threatens to stop US aid worth 'hundreds of millions' to Palestine

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to withdraw aid money to Palestinians as they are unwilling to negotiate peace with Israel.

"..we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don't even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel," Trump said in a series of two lengthy tweets.

"We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?" Trump asked.

According to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, since the mid-1990s, the US government has committed more than USD 5 billion in bilateral economic and non-lethal security assistance to the Palestinians.

Earlier in the day, the US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the US would cut off aid if the Palestinians continue to refuse to engage in peace negotiations.

"I think the president has basically said that he doesn't want to give any additional funding or stop funding until the Palestinians are agreeing to come back to the negotiation table," Haley told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

"What we saw with the resolution was not helpful to the situation. We're trying to move for a peace process. But if that doesn't happen the president's not going to continue to fund that situation," Haley said in response to a question when asked if the US would continue to fund Palestine despite the recent resolution of the UN General Assembly against Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel.
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UN Security Council unanimously steps up sanctions against North Korea

The UN Security Council has unanimously passed a US-drafted resolution that imposes strongest sanctions ever on North Korea, with measures targeting its last remaining major exports and reducing about 30 percent of oil provided to it.

"Today, we are saying the world will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea. And today, the Security Council is saying that if the North Korean regime does not halt its nuclear program, we will act to stop it ourselves," the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said as the 15-membered UN body passed the resolution 2375 on North Korea.

"We are done trying to prod the regime to do the right thing. We are now acting to stop it from having the ability to continue doing the wrong thing," she said.

Haley said the international community is doing that by hitting North Korea's ability to fuel and fund its weapons program.

Noting that oil is the lifeblood of North Korea's effort to build and deliver a nuclear weapon, Haley said the resolution reduces almost 30 per cent of oil provided to North Korea by cutting off over 55 per cent of its gas, diesel, and heavy fuel oil.
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Don't seek material or money, treat us with respect: Pak Army chief to US

Pakistan is not seeking material or financial help from the US, but Washington must trust and treat it with respect, Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday told the US envoy in Islamabad, a day after President Trump asked Islamabad to stop providing safe havens to terrorists.

While announcing America's new Afghanistan and South Asia policy — which calls for greater US troop deployment and Indian involvement in Afghanistan — Trump had hit out at Pakistan for offering sanctuaries to "agents of chaos."

The US Ambassador David Hale met General Bajwa at the Army's Headquarters in Rawalpindi, where the latter was briefed on the US's new South Asia policy announced by President Trump, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — the Pakistani military's media wing.

"We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organisations," the US president had said.
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