Palestinians welcome the return of US funding for refugees
A pledge by the US to fund the UN agency for Palestinian refugees was greeted with relief in Bethlehem, where residents hope the move will bring an end to the hardship they experienced in recent years.
The US announced it would contribute $150 million to the agency and the UN said the funds would be used to boost food assistance, water and sanitation projects and efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
“People need the support and help,” said Fatima Abu Salim, a resident of Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem.
“We’re very happy that they’re helping the Palestinian people,” the 58-year-old said after arriving at a health centre built by the agency.
The $4m project includes a laboratory and was funded by Saudi Arabia. The health centre gives residents of Aida and Palestinians living outside the camp access to doctors and dentists.
While the UN agency was able to continue such projects in recent years, its work was severely affected after the Trump administration announced in 2018 that it would cut US financial support.
“It wasn’t easy at all for us as refugees when we heard that there was a cut, that the US are not providing us with their support any more,” said Hanadi Darwish, head of the agency’s infrastructure and camp improvement programme in the occupied West Bank.
The agency operates across occupied East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
In addition to health care, it runs hundreds of schools and initiatives such as emergency cash assistance.
“It’s not a matter of cutting only the services, it’s the hope,” said Ms Darwish, who grew up in Aida and designed the health centre and the school connected to it.
The US was the largest contributor to the agency and gave nearly $360m in 2017 – almost a third of its budget.
Funding was slashed to $60m in January 2018 and the Trump administration announced that year that donations would end entirely.
The decision diminished the agency’s ability to provide services for about 5.7 million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and elsewhere, affecting services from sanitation to building maintenance.
“We used, several years ago, to have half a million [dollars] for one year to spend on maintenance. This year we received $25,000,” said Ms Darwish.
“You definitely will not be able to even change the handles on the doors if they were broken.”
In Aida, the US decision to cut support forced the agency to halt a cash assistance programme for unemployed residents.
Monthly payments helped to support up to 100 families, said Ibrahim Abu Srour, the agency’s camp services officer in Aida.
He estimated that about 27 per cent of residents did not have jobs.
“Unemployment is too high. Unemployment causes social problems,” he said.
Overcrowding is also a challenge, with thousands of residents crammed into an area that spans 0.71 square kilometres. Electricity and water systems are outdated.
“Having money means having opportunities for families,” Mr Abu Srour said.
Although donations from other countries enabled the agency to operate projects such as the health centre, funding from the US was considered particularly important.
Ms Darwish said annual funding from the US allowed the agency to plan ahead, rather than relying on one-off donations for certain projects.
“You are flexible in how you distribute these funds. That’s why it was, for us, a catastrophe, or a disaster, not having the US funding on a regular basis,” she said.
The agency said it received a large portion of the US funds last Wednesday. About $90m will be added to the agency’s budget for services across the region and $26m will be used in Gaza and the West Bank.
The decision to contribute the funds was criticised by Israel, which said the agency “perpetuates the conflict and does not contribute to its resolution”.
“The renewal of aid to UNRWA should be accompanied by substantial and necessary changes in the nature, goals and conduct of the organisation,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
The Palestinian leadership hopes the renewal of funding, to the UN agency and other projects in Gaza and the West Bank, mark a return to relations between Washington and the Palestinians.
Last week, the US ambassador to Jordan, Henry Wooster, said his country recognised all Palestinian refugees registered by the UN.
In Aida, which was establishment in 1950, Ms Darwish said the US funding pledge was a boost to the community.
“It’s not a matter of having only services. There is something more valued in having the US continue supporting us,” she said.
The decision by the US to cut funding in 2018 affected services from sanitation to building maintenance