U.S. to de-fund agency for Palestinian refugees: AP

The Trump administration is preparing to cut nearly $300 million in planned funding for the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, according to individuals familiar with the issue.

The U.S. supplies nearly 30 per cent of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency’s total budget. The agency provides health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

The individuals familiar with the administration’s funding review say the final decision could be formalized in the coming days.

They were not authorized to discuss the internal deliberations and requested anonymity.

The State Department said Friday it had no announcements to make on UNRWA funding, and UNRWA’s representative in Washington, Elizabeth Campbell, said the agency has not been informed by the administration of any final decision about its funding.

It comes amid deepening concern over deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the West Bank and Gaza.

The U.S. donated $355 million to UNWRA in 2016 and was set to make a similar contribution this year. In January, it released $60 million in funds but withheld a further $65 million it had been due to provide, making clear that further donations would be contingent on reforms of the agency. The Trump administration is now set to reprogram the remaining funds – around $290 million.

The withdrawal of U.S. funding would leave UNRWA facing a financial crisis, but Campbell noted that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and others have provided more than $200 million in new funding to help cover its budget this year.

In recent days, senior Trump administration officials have publicly reiterated their dissatisfaction with UNRWA but stopped short of saying the U.S. would defund the agency, which was reported first by Foreign Policy magazine.

Last week, National Security Adviser John Bolton told The Associated Press that there will be cuts in funding to UNRWA. On Tuesday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, complained that “Palestinians continue to bash America” although it’s the main donor for UNRWA.

Speaking at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies thinktank, Haley also said, “we have to look at right of return” of those classified as Palestinian refugees. She called on Middle East nations to increase aid.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes during the war that led to Israel’s establishment in 1948. Today, there are an estimated five million refugees and their descendants, mostly scattered across the region – a figure that has become a point of contention. Palestinian leaders assert the right of those refugees to return to land now under Israeli control.

Last Friday, the State Department announced the U.S. was cutting more than $200 million in bilateral aid to the Palestinians, following a review of the funding for projects in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman called that U.S. decision an attempt to force the Palestinians to abandon their claim to Jerusalem.

The moves to cut U.S. funding comes as President Donald Trump and his Middle East pointmen, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, prepare for the rollout of a much-vaunted but as yet unclear peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians.

The Palestinian leadership has been openly hostile to any proposal from the administration, citing what it says is a pro-Israel bias, notably after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December and moved the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv in May. The Palestinian Authority and Abbas broke off contact with the U.S. after the Jerusalem announcement.