“Israel-PA joint security activities—and Israel-only activities—in the West Bank are what keep [PA leader Mahmoud Abbas] in power and constrain the emergence and growth of Hamas,” Jewish Policy Center senior director Shoshana Bryen told JNS. “That is in Israel’s interest as well as that of the PA.”

“If the PA cuts off the cooperation because the US cuts off the money, Israel fears a Hamas takeover from the PA,” she continued. “[Abbas] fears the same thing, so it’s unlikely that a full cutoff of cooperation will occur, but that’s the threat and it cannot be ignored.”

Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, echoed Bryen last year regarding security funding for the PA.

“It’s one of the few positive points to note in what is otherwise a very fraught relationship,” he said. “The Palestinians and Israelis have been working closely to counter the activities of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations.”

“They’ve done a good job,” he added. “Cutting Palestinian assistance in this space in particular strikes many, even those who are hawkish, as problematic.”

However, Sander Gerber, a New York-based hedge-fund manager who was instrumental in the passage of the TFA, told JNS on Monday that the funding of the Palestinian security services is a bad move.

“The catch with aid to the Palestinian people is to ensure that it doesn’t further strengthen the PA,” he said. “The PA has oppressed and stolen from their people for too long, and the West and [Gulf states] have continually looked the other way.”

Gerber added that the organizations the Palestinian security services stop are against the PA’s interests, which in turn “also happens to benefit Israel.”