The United States announced that it would cut $200 million in annual aid from the Palestinian Authority (PA), The Jerusalem Post reported Friday.

The impetus for reducing the aid, according to a State Department spokesman, was the result of a review “to ensure these funds are spent in accordance with US national interests and provide value to the US taxpayer.”

The cut in aid to the PA comes amid nearly $3 billion in overall foreign aid cuts by the administration.

Though the U.S. has provided some $5.2 billion to the PA since 1994, the PA is resistant to the peace initiative the Trump administration is formulating. Following President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announcing his intention to move the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem in December of last year, the PA has cut off all formal contacts with the administration.

The PA isn’t only refusing to deal with the U.S. in efforts to achieve a peace deal with Israel but is undercutting international efforts to provide humanitarian support for Gaza.

Last week, it was reported there were was increased friction between the PA and Egypt, after PA President Mahmoud Abbas nixed a truce deal between Israel and Hamas that had been brokered by Egypt.

The PA has also rejected a plan by Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon to improve the West Bank’s economy, insisting that any such plan be implemented as part of a comprehensive settlement between the two sides.

Since becoming president a year and a half ago, Trump has repeatedly called on the PA to stop incitement to violence. The PA has consistently refused to tone down its rhetoric or end the “Pay to Slay” program that incentivizes terror against Israel.

[Photo: AP Archive / YouTube ]