Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson announced today that Stockholm plans to cut assistance that it provides to the Palestinian Authority (PA), after Swedish officials became dissatisfied with the pace of Palestinian negotiations with Israel. Sweden currently provides $107 million annually to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Carlsson recently returned from a trip to the region and, upon her return, publicly questioned the usefulness of Swedish assistance. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly called for PA head Mahmoud Abbas to return the negotiation table for talks without preconditions. Palestinian leaders have declined to do so:

A week ago, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called out to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, “I call on Abbas to put pre-conditions aside and talk. Give peace a chance.” Abbas responded by saying, “there will be no peace without Jerusalem (as a pre-condition). There will no security and stability without Jerusalem.”

Palestinian officials have also responded with reluctance to broad efforts being made by Secretary of State John Kerry to reinvigorate negotiations.

[Photo: worldwaterweek / Flickr]