| Gaza, Palestinian “refugee camps”in the Arab world hardest hit. |
The United States sent $60 million to keep the UN relief agency for Paleostinians (UNRWA) in operation but withheld a further $65 million while it urged others to pay more, a State Department official said Tuesday.
"There is a need to undertake a fundamental re-examination of UNRWA, both in the way it operates and the way it is funded," the official said.
The official told AFP the decision to withhold some funds was meant to encourage more "burden-sharing" by other members.
"The United States has been UNRWA’s single largest donor for decades. In years past, we contributed some 30 percent of UNRWA’s total income," he said.
"Without the funds we are providing today, UNRWA operations were at risk of running out of funds and closing down.
"The funds provided by the United States will prevent that from happening for the immediate future."
US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
earlier this month threatened to cut US aid to the Paleostinians, saying on Twitter that Washington gets "no appreciation or respect" from the Paleostinians.
"We pay the Paleostinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect," Trump tweeted on January 3.
"With the Paleostinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?"
Although Trump referred to all US assistance to the Paleostinians, the contribution to the refugee agency would be the first to be affected.
Israel has often criticized UNRWA, accusing it of sheltering holy warriors and allowing Paleostinians to remain refugees even after settling in a new city or country for many generations, thus complicating a possible resolution to the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict.
The State Department announcement was hailed by Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
Danny Danon on Tuesday.
"UNRWA has proven time and again to be an agency that misuses the humanitarian aid
of the international community and instead supports anti-Israel propaganda, perpetuates the plight of Paleostinian refugees and encourages hate," Danon said in a statement."Just over the last year alone, UNRWA officials were elected to the leadership of Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", in the Gazoo Strip, UNRWA schools denied the existence of Israel, and terror tunnels were dug under UNRWA facilities. It is time for this absurdity to end and for humanitarian funds to be directed towards their intended purpose ‐ the welfare of refugees," he added.
The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Paleostinians in the West Bank, Gazoo Strip, Jordan, Syria and Leb.
On Monday, the United Nations said the work of the agency was "critical" and if the United States or any other donor cuts its contributions "we will have to find other sources."
| Go for it. Perhaps George Soros would like to cover the shortfall. |
"It is vindictive for the US government to deprive the UN of money to feed and educate Paleostinian children in order to blackmail the Paleostinian Authority into rejoining Trump administration-led peace negotiations," Roth said in a statement.
| If Human Rights Watch is upset, we’re doing something right. |
UN chief 'very concerned' over American cut to UNRWA
[ISRAELNATIONALNEWS] Antonio Guterres says UNRWA is "an important factor of stability" in the Middle East.