In a brief memo to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today, President Obama declared a waiver on the restriction of providing funds to the Palestinian Authority.
Obama said it was “important to the national security interests” to waive the prohibition on funds, a determination required by law to lift the restrictions. However, he did not elaborate.
When the waiver authority is exercised, Obama must “submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations detailing the justification for the waiver, the purposes for which the funds will be spent, and the accounting procedures in place to ensure that the funds are properly disbursed: Provided, That the report shall also detail the steps the Palestinian Authority has taken to arrest terrorists, confiscate weapons and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure.”
Prohibitions still exist under the law for Hamas and Palestine Liberation Organization, though it’s interesting that the PDF that the White House sent out of the memo was slugged 2012plo.pd.rel.pdf — “pd” likely meaning “presidential determination,” the type of document, and “rel” being release.
“You are directed to transmit this determination to the Congress, with a report pursuant to section 7040(d) of the Act, and to publish this determination in the Federal Register,” Obama concluded in the memo.
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