US aid benefiting the Palestinians furthers shared American and Israeli interests and should be maintained—if consistent with current US law-- despite difficulties in the effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

International leaders, including those from the United States and Europe, have made clear that the new Palestinian government must accept the conditions set out by the Middle East Quartet; namely to recognize Israel, renounce violence and adhere to previous Israel-Palestinian agreements. A government that accepts those terms and follows a policy of nonviolence should remain a partner for the United States.

US assistance in training Palestinian security forces has been regularly praised by Israel’s top security officials for significantly reducing attacks in and emanating from the West Bank.

Similarly, governance and humanitarian programs funded by US aid also bolster Israeli’s security by enhancing stability, accountability and opportunity in the Palestinian territory. Cutting off this assistance would undercut the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to push back against extremism by building the institutions of modern statehood and ensuring that Palestinians have access to basic infrastructure and necessities.

Ultimately, cutting aid could lead to a collapse of the PA, and require Israel to bear the significant burden of overseeing the administration and security of areas of the West Bank currently under PA control, which would be an economic, administrative and diplomatic disaster for Israel. Nor should the moral or human toll of ending US aid to the Palestinians be ignored. Cutting off vital US assistance would only exacerbate the deprivations Palestinians experience daily under occupation, threatening livelihoods and even lives.

In myriad ways, ending US aid benefiting Palestinians would make conditions on the ground even less conducive to a two-state resolution to the conflict, thereby jeopardizing Israel’s future as a secure, democratic and Jewish homeland.

Now is not the time to score political points by advocating for policies that many in Israel’s own security establishment consider counterproductive. That’s a price that Israel can’t afford.