US ends funding for UN

WASHINGTON — The United States is ending its decades of funding for the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees, the State Department announced Friday, a week after slashing bilateral US aid for projects in the West Bank and Gaza.

The US supplies nearly 30 percent of the total budget of the UN Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, and had been demanding reforms in the way it is run. The department said in a written statement that the United States "will no longer commit further funding to this irredeemably flawed operation." The decision cuts nearly $300 million of planned support.

UNRWA released a statement late Friday rejecting "in the strongest possible terms" the Trump administration's criticism of the agency and expressing "deep regret and disappointment."

The US decision 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, and it could intensify Palestinian suspicions that Washington is using the humanitarian funding as leverage.

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 US embassy there from Tel Aviv in May. The Palestinian Authority broke off contact with the US after the Jerusalem announcement.

In 2016, the US donated $355 million to the UNRWA, which provides health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and it was set to make a similar contribution this year. In January the Trump administration released $60 million in funds but withheld a further $65 million it had been due to provide. The remaining amount — around $290 million — had yet to be allocated.