U.S. Aid Agency Is Preparing To Lay Off Most Local Staff For Palestinian Projects

Under orders from the Trump administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development is preparing to lay off most of its Palestinian aid workers in its West Bank and Gaza mission, according to U.S. government communications reviewed by NPR.

It's the latest step toward shrinking a decades-long U.S. aid mission to build the capacity for a future Palestinian state. In response to NPR's request for comment, a USAID official emailed a statement saying that the agency has "begun to take steps to reduce our staffing footprint." He did not want his name used.

The decision to dismiss the aid workers raises questions about how the Trump administration can implement the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan it vows to soon unveil — with an emphasis on major investments in the Palestinian economy, potentially funded by Gulf Arab states.

"It's a huge mistake," said former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro, who served during the Obama administration and said he was aware of USAID's plans to lay off staffers. "Even if you get big checks from the Gulf States, you will want development experts to help steer where that money goes. We won't have our own team of experts available. None of this makes any sense."

USAID is aiming to reduce its local staff of about 100 employees to only 14, according to official communications reviewed by NPR. Most of the employees to be laid off are Palestinians or Arab citizens of Israel, and the others are Jewish Israelis.

Last month, USAID held preliminary termination hearings, a formality required by Israeli law in which employees get the chance to plead their case before the termination is final. Next month, the agency is expected to notify employees they'll lose their jobs in July.

Shapiro said it would be difficult and costly to reassemble an experienced team for any future development projects under a future U.S. administration.

Two current employees confirmed they were notified about the likely layoffs, and one of these two said he was optimistic as he awaited final word on his job. Other Palestinian staff members said they were instructed not to speak to the media and declined to comment to NPR.

"The administration is firing a national treasure. People dedicating their lives to fighting for America and fighting for peace," said Dave Harden, former director of USAID's mission for the Palestinian territories. "We are abandoning them."

The administration said Wednesday that it will unveil its peace plan after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assembles his new government and after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends in early June.

A spokesman for Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and a senior White House adviser leading peace efforts, did not immediately return a request for comment on whether USAID layoffs could affect the peace plan.

For years, the U.S. ran aid projects in the Palestinian territories with Israel's blessing. But last year, the Trump administration cut half a billion dollars in Palestinian aid, including money to care for Palestinian cancer patients and food to address a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The move was seen as an effort to pressure Palestinian leaders to cooperate with U.S.-led peace efforts.

Early this year, the U.S. abandoned half-complete infrastructure projects like a sewage system for a West Bank city, because of a new U.S. law targeting the Palestinian Authority for financially supporting attackers convicted of killing Israelis.

Now the U.S. is slated to part ways with much of the staff that helped oversee these aid programs.

In response to NPR's request for comment on Wednesday, USAID emailed this statement: "We are not currently taking steps to close the USAID West Bank and Gaza mission. Given the cessation of USAID programs in West Bank and Gaza, coupled with our commitment to proper stewardship of taxpayer dollars, we have begun to take steps to reduce our staffing footprint."

For years, USAID's Palestinian staff often faced personal risk during armed conflict or threats from Palestinian groups for working with the U.S. When the staff faced such threats, American officials evacuated some of these employees from Gaza, Harden said.

"They or their colleagues, USAID contractors, have been caught in crossfire, detained, their families at grave risk, all along representing America," he said.

Some local USAID employees could be offered temporary contracts with other USAID missions in the region, but they are not expected to regain full employment with the agency.

A former Palestinian development officer at USAID, who left the agency in 2015, choked up as he spoke with NPR about his former Palestinian colleagues.

"I'm emotional about this. We meant to change people's lives," he said, speaking anonymously because he did not wish to speak out against his former employer. "People really believed this is doable. USAID [has been] putting in infrastructure for factories, building hundreds of schools, creating thousands of jobs. There was a real hope there might be a future where we could live independently. Now that hope is collapsing."

Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.