Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem is portrayed as a high-performing medical institution operating under Israeli jurisdiction and licensing, with its managing charitable society registered in Israel.

Even so, the Palestinian Authority is said to have asserted control over the hospital by presidential decree, appointing politically affiliated figures to the society’s leadership—despite legal restrictions on P.A. governance activity in Jerusalem.

Large streams of foreign health aid, including major Gulf-state- and World Health Organization (WHO)-linked support, are highlighted as vulnerable to diversion—reported donation figures in official filings are described as far smaller than publicly announced contributions, raising questions about where the remaining funds went.

A previous, highly publicized fundraising drive for a Palestinian cancer center that was never built is cited as indicative of a broader pattern.

The overall claim is that the push for control serves two aims—access to donor money that can be exploited for patronage or corruption, and a political effort to expand P.A. influence in Jerusalem in a way that challenges Israeli sovereignty.

Recommended responses include Israeli enforcement against P.A. activity in the city, and donor conditionality tying future support to depoliticized, transparent management.

The P.A.’s financial corruption is already infamous and well-documented. However, certain incidents are more indicative than others to demonstrate the true depths of the cynicism. As with any other criminal enterprise, P.A. corruption is sometimes blatant, but more often disguised, nuanced, and hidden.

As one commentator, Hilmi S. Salem, noted in a context most pertinent to this article, the corruption is such a widespread phenomenon within the P.A.’s ministries and institutions, the private sector, and Palestinian NGOs, that it is viewed as “a cancer that eats the flesh of the Palestinian people.”

When P.A. corruption intersects with sectors that can raise funds relatively easily, especially from international donors, such as health services, the temptation becomes impossible to resist. The P.A. takeover of the Makassed Hospital, which often receives tens of millions of dollars in donations, is clearly one such event.

The Makassed Hospital

The Makassed Hospital’s foundation stones were laid in Jerusalem in 1964, while the area was still under Jordanian occupation, but construction was only completed in 1968 after it came under Israeli jurisdiction. The hospital is funded predominantly by the Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Society, an organization established under Jordanian law that is now registered as an NGO in Israel. The hospital is located in Jerusalem in an area to which Israeli law applies. Accordingly, the hospital is licensed by the Israeli Ministry of Health.

Since the hospital is located in Jerusalem, the P.A. should have nothing whatsoever to do with it.

While the hospital did once cater to the medical needs of some of the Arabs living in Jerusalem who hold Israeli residency, this has not been the case for many years. Under Israeli law, Arabs who hold Israeli residency are fully entitled to benefit from the modern and developed Israeli medical system, at minimal cost.

Thus, a 2014 report published by the Israeli Ministry of Health found that 50% of those treated by the hospital were residents of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, and their treatment was paid for by the P.A. Twenty percent of patients were covered by private insurance, and 17% were covered by the Israeli health funds.

In total, according to financial reports submitted by the NGO to the Israeli Registrar, the annual financial cycle of the hospital for the last few years ranged from 210 million to 235 million shekels (approximately $65 million-$70 million).

While the Palestinian Authority is prohibited from operating in Jerusalem, the ban did not bother P.A. Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who issued a “Presidential Decree” to appoint the NGO’s management team.

In the decree, Abbas appointed a list of Fatah activists to control the NGO. One of those appointed by Abbas was Ahmed al-Ruwaidi, who was recently appointed, in addition to his position in the NGO, as the “Ambassador of the State of Palestine” to Iraq. Another one of those appointed was Kamal Obeidat, who has been frequently arrested and investigated for conducting P.A. activities in Jerusalem.

Weeks before Abbas issued the decree, on Nov. 29, 2022, appointing his own people to run the NGO that controls the hospital, the United Arab Emirates signed a deal with the WHO to donate $25 million to the hospital. As part of that agreement, in March 2023, the WHO delivered a $1.5 million shipment of critical medicines and medical supplies to the hospital through the generous support of UAE Aid. In April 2025, it appears that the UAE donated an additional $64.5 million.

While there is no reason to suggest that the UAE reneged on the donations, they are entirely absent from the NGO’s financial reports.

Israeli NGOs are required by law to submit annual financial statements, which include, among other details, donations from abroad. According to the NGO’s financial reports, in 2022, it only received 3,988,561 shekels (just over $1 million) in donations from abroad. In 2023, the donations from abroad rose to 20,871,959 shekels (approximately $6 million).

What happened to the rest of the money donated by the UAE? And what happened to the money donated by the other foreign organizations?

The Khaled Hasan Cancer Center

The P.A.’s hostile takeover of the Makassed Hospital is not the first event of widespread corruption connected with medical facilities.

In 2016, the P.A. launched an international campaign to raise $250 million to build the Khaled Hasan Cancer Center in Surda, northeast of Ramallah. Promotional plans were drawn up, and the international community donated tens of millions of dollars. The hospital was never built, and the funds disappeared.

Breach of Israeli sovereignty

Paragraph 3 of the Law on the Implementation of the Interim Agreement Concerning the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Restriction of Activity), 5755 – 1994 (one of the laws passed in Israel to implement the Oslo Accords), prohibits the P.A. from operating in Jerusalem, specifically outlawing any form of governance activities. The fact that Abbas, in a P.A. “Presidential Decree,” took the liberty to appoint his people to run the NGO is a fundamental breach of that prohibition.

After more than three decades and the inflow of tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in foreign aid, Makassed Hospital still outperforms every major hospital in P.A.-administered areas.

Given this record, it is implausible to argue that the P.A. seeks control of Makassed because of superior administrative capacity or a proven ability to run healthcare institutions more effectively than Israel. Since the P.A. has not excelled in managing the hospitals already under its jurisdiction, its attempt to take over Makassed is unlikely to be driven primarily by professional or medical considerations. The initiative, therefore, suggests additional, non-medical objectives.

Two such objectives stand out. The first is financial: Gaining leverage over Makassed’s budgets and donor funding would open a channel for patronage, corruption and potentially the misappropriation of resources. The second is political: Extending P.A. authority over a flagship Jerusalem institution would function as a symbolic and practical challenge to Israel’s sovereignty in the city.

Policy recommendations

Given these driving factors, the Israeli government should step in and, using the provisions of already existing laws, prevent the P.A.’s further infraction of Israeli sovereignty.

If the international community is genuine in its desire to provide aid to the Palestinian people and not to further line the corrupt P.A. officials’ pockets, it should reconsider the manner in which the aid is provided. Additional donations should only be given subject to the removal of any P.A. influence over the hospital and the replacement of the NGO management team.

Both Israel and the international donor community should reject leaving the situation unaddressed.

Originally published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

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