India quadruples UN Palestine agency donation to $5m
India has announced it will quadruple its contribution to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
The Indian government has committed to the increase for the next three years in response to an urgent appeal by the agency for help.
“The Government of India has increased its annual contribution for Unrwa from US$1.25 million to $5m from next year,” it said.
“This enhancement was made in the backdrop of the unprecedented financial crisis being faced by Unrwa, which has been delivering valuable public services to Palestinian refugees around the world.”
The UN agency defines Palestinian refugees as people who lived in Palestine between June 1, 1946, and May 15, 1948, and who lost their homes and livelihoods during the 1948 conflict.
About five million Palestinians are eligible for the agency’s services, its website says.
The announcement follows Narendra Modi’s visit to Ramallah in February, the first time an Indian prime minister has visited Palestine.
Commissioner general of the agency, Pierre Krahenbuhl, visited New Delhi recently to seek further support from the Indian government.
After the visit, Sushma Swaraj, India’s Minister of External Affairs, appealed to other countries within the NonAligned Movement for help in increasing humanitarian relief efforts.
Members of the Non-Aligned Movement are states that are not formally in league with or against major power blocs. “I can think of no better way to manifest, in a practical manner, our solidarity for the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people,” Ms Swaraj said at a meeting of the movement in New York last September.
In January, the US froze two payments worth more than $100m to the agency, saying it was because of its poor performance.
The agency said that diplomatic tension was behind the freeze after President Donald Trump’s decision to formally recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December.
The Palestinian leadership now refuses to have anything to do with the Trump government.
Mr Trump claimed that the US pays “hundreds of millions of dollars” to Palestine and gets “no appreciation or respect”.
“With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?” he tweeted days before the payment freeze.