Obama announces $400 million in additional Palestinian aid

President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the United States will provide an additional $400 million in aid for the Palestinian-controlled West Bank and Gaza Strip. 

The additional funds were announced as Obama met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House. 

In brief remarks, the president called the situation in the blockaded Gaza Strip "unsustainable" and said it was important for both the Israelis and Palestinians to work together to improve the situation there. 

"The status quo that we have is one that is inherently unstable, and I think the Israelis have come to recognize that," Obama said. 

The president's pledge comes just more than a week after an attempt by a Turkish-based flotilla to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza ended in disaster. Israeli commandos boarded the ships and killed nine pro-Palestinian activists aboard and sustained injuries themselves. 

Israel claimed the activists aboard the ships first attacked the soldiers with pipes and chairs and that their men were acting in self-defense. Still, the incident touched off a diplomatic crisis for the Jewish state, with several European countries and Turkey condemning its actions. 

Obama has reserved judgment on the flotilla attack until an investigation is complete, but in the meantime has pointed to the Gaza blockade as the root problem. 

The U.S. funds will help increase access to schools, clean drinking water and housing and are also designed to help create jobs for Palestinians. The U.S. already provides some aid to the Palestinian territories, but the additional funds are designed to ease the effects of the blockade. 

Obama has refrained from calling for an end to the blockade, as a few members of Congress have, citing Israel's concern that opening it could allow weapons to get into the hands of terrorists. The Islamic extremist group Hamas controls Gaza; it is on the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terror organizations.

"With respect to the broader issue of lifting the blockade, as I said before, I think the key here is making sure that Israel's security needs are met but that the needs of people in Gaza are also met," he said. 

The president expressed hope that Israelis and Palestinians would resume negotiations on a two-state solution. 

"But, let me make this final point: that in the long run, the only real way to solve this problem is to make sure that we've got a Palestinian state side-by-side with an Israel that is secure," he said. 

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