US AID ASSISTANCE : ''WEST BANK AND GAZA''

ALL USAID assistance in the West Bank and Gaza has ceased. US official. The decision was linked to a Jan 31 deadline set by new US legislation.

The deadline also sees the end of some $60 million in US aid for the Palestinian Security Forces.

The US Agency for International Development [USAID]  has ended all assistance to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, a US official said Friday last.

The decision was linked to a Jan 31 deadline set by new US legislation under which foreign aid recipients would be more exposed to anti-terrorism lawsuits.

The deadline also sees the end of some $60 million in US aid for the Palestinian security forces, whose cooperation with Israel forces helps maintain relative quirt in the West Bank.

Congress Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act [ATCA] empowers Americans to sue foreign aid recipients in US courts over alleged complicity in ''acts of war''. [Agencies]