US decision to stop funding UN agency targets Palestinian refugees’ right to return
In the wake of the US decision on Friday to stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Palestinian factions and observers say Washington is working toward the annulment of the UN General Assembly Resolution 194 on Palestinian refugees.
Adopted in late 1948 near the end of the Arab-Israeli war, the UN Resolution 194 defines principles for the settlement of the Palestinian refugees and their compensation by allowing them to return to their homes.
Issam Bakr, the coordinator of Palestinian national and Islamic factions in the West Bank, told Xinhua that the US decision to stop funding UNRWA means its increasing bias against Palestinians and in favor of Israelis.
“Their end goal is the annulment of the UN Resolution 194,” Bakr noted.
The US decision has put the UNRWA in a serious financial crisis which may lead to closure of parts of its services to more than 5 million Palestinian refugees in the region.
On Saturday, Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner general of the UNRWA, urged donor countries to step up their contributions, as the UN refugee agency is suffering an unprecedented $200-million deficit.
On Wednesday last week, the UNRWA started the new school year in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with some 526,000 Palestinian students attending 711 schools.
The current funding shortage facing the UNRWA may put the educational rights of the Palestinian students at risk, Krahenbuhl warned.
Nour Odeh, a Ramallahbased diplomatic affairs analyst, said the American approach could trigger “an international crisis, not just a Palestinian one,” given its implications on both regional and international levels.
Washington “is using political and financial extortion to dictate its hostile policy against Palestinians, and the international community will need to act more courageously and responsibly to confront this bullying tactic,” she said.
On Saturday, Israeli media quoted diplomatic sources as saying the US even demands the Gulf states stop their funding to UNRWA after 2018.
“Arab states have a vested interest in maintaining UNRWA operations because the collapse of the UNRWA will threaten their stability, especially the host countries,” Odeh explained. Palestinian officials said Washington aims to eliminate the issue of refugees from the final status negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
Nabil Abu Rudeinah, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, announced on Saturday that Abbas is considering going to the UN General Assembly and the Security Council “to challenge the US decision to stop all funds to the UNRWA,” official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah described the decision as “a new flagrant attack against Palestinian rights and international law,” urging the international community to “stand against this unjust decision.”
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, described the US funding cut as “inhumane and reckless.”
The move would lead to “instability of the entire region and creation of unimaginable suffering and hardship for the Palestinian refugees,” she warned.
The US Statement Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in an official statement on Friday that “the US is ending all funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency.”
The statement described the UNRWA as “irredeemably flawed,” saying the US government has “carefully reviewed” the issue and “will not make additional contributions to UNRWA.”
For nearly five years, the UNRWA has been dealing with a worsening financial problem caused by the increased demand for its services with the growing number of registered Palestinian refugees and their deepening poverty and vulnerability.
As the oldest and largest relief organization, UNRWA was established in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.4 million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development.
Its services include education, health care, relief, social services, infrastructure, camp improvement and micro-credit.