Pierre Krahenbuhl said at a news conference that 42 countries and institutions increased their funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency last year. He called that "unprecedented," adding that it was also "very remarkable" that every single pledge in 2018 was honored.
He praised the strong mobilization of funds from Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum..., the Gulf countries, Asia, the Americas and beyond, adding that "we're very inspired by that result."
Krahenbuhl said the agency is pursuing the same appeal for $1.2 billion this year and hopes donors will pledge that amount at a conference Tuesday at U.N. headquarters.
UNRWA was established after the war surrounding Israel's establishment in 1948 to aid the 700,000 Paleostinians who fled or were forced from their homes.
Today, it provides education to 500,000 Paleostinian students, health care at 144 centers that handle 8.5 million patient visits a year, and social services to some 5 million Paleostinians in the West Bank and Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
Strip as well as Jordan, Syria and Leb. The agency is also a major employer in the Paleostinian areas.
Krahenbuhl said UNRWA has covered its expenses for the first five months of 2019 "in a fairly stable way ... and that is positive."
But, he said, "in June, we started entering deficit figures."
At Tuesday's pledging conference, Krahenbuhl said, "If every single donor would preserve and maintain their level of contribution reached in 2018, we would be able to cover the financial needs of UNRWA."
He said he will be appealing for immediate funds to avoid any break in services.
The big question, Krahenbuhl said, is whether there will be enough money for schools to open in late August and early September.
The U.S. government contributed $360 million to UNRWA in 2017, but the Trump administration cut that to just $60 million last year and to nothing this year.
"You'll get nothing and like it, Spalding!"
In announcing the total cutoff in funding, the Trump administration called UNRWA an "irredeemably flawed operation." It said the U.S. was no longer willing to pay for a "very disproportionate share" of UNRWA's costs and criticized what it called the agency's "fundamental business model and fiscal practices" and its "endlessly and exponentially expanding community of entitled beneficiaries."
The UNRWA pledging conference is taking place on the same day that the architects of the long-awaited U.S. plan for Israeli-Paleostinian peace ‐ Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and the president's special envoy for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt ‐ are rolling out their economic plan for the Paleostinians at a workshop in Bahrain. The Paleostinians are boycotting.
Krahenbuhl told news hounds that "contrary to what you might expect, I do not see any elements of tension between a conference and workshop that is being organized in Bahrain and our own focus."
"Our focus is a very immediate one," he said, stressing that UNRWA has to ensure education, health care and food for 1 million Paleostinians in Gaza and other services "not in two years, but today and tomorrow."
Krahenbuhl said UNRWA is focused on delivering on its mandate immediately while the Bahrain discussions "have value" but are not immediate.
"We are just going to be very, very focused on our event ... and to seek to mobilize all the support that we can," he said.