Belgium releases Palestinian aid
It disburses $23M after U.S. suspends funds to U.N. agency
BRUSSELS — Belgium has stepped in to help out the U.N. agency assisting Palestinian refugees, providing it an immediate disbursement of $23 million after President Donald Trump’s administration suspended $65 million in aid for the international organization.
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Wednesday that “for a lot of Palestinian refugees, the [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] is the last life buoy.” Among the agency’s projects are helping a half-million children get an education and fending off attempts to radicalize them.
De Croo said he was responding to a global fundraising appeal from the agency in hopes of making up for funding cuts announced by the United States. The roughly $23 million is Belgium’s allocation for three years but because of the group’s immediate need, De Croo’s office said it will be “disbursed immediately.”
The U.N. agency’s commissioner general, Pierre Krahenbuhl, wrote on Twitter that the U.S.’ funding announcement was resulting in the “most critical financial situation in history of Agency.”
“I call on member states of the United Nations to take a stand & demonstrate to Palestine Refugees that their rights & future matter,” he wrote, announcing the global fundraising appeal.
In a more detailed press statement, Krahenbuhl said the U.S. contribution of $60 million is “dramatically below past levels” and jeopardizes the “dignity and human security of millions of Palestine refugees, in need of emergency food assistance and other support.”
In the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, Ahmed Al-Assar, 42, said his family of eight has been receiving aid from the U.N. agency for almost 12 years.
“I work part time in construction, but that is not enough to cover all my expenses,” he said Wednesday. “Any reduction of aid would be a death sentence for refugees in Gaza. The work is almost nonexistent. There are not enough jobs. Those who work for the Palestinian Authority receive only a stipend, and Hamas employees get a quarter of their salary.”
Another camp resident, Zahia Mekdad, described the aid cut as “a purely political decision” that would hurt only ordinary people.
“There has already been a reduction of aid in recent years,” she said. “If it is reduced more, it is the women, children and young people who will suffer, not the politicians.”
The U.S. decision to transfer less than half of a planned $125 million installment to the U.N. aid agency makes good on Trump’s threat earlier this month to withhold funds if the Palestinian Authority refuses to take part in a peace process being prepared by the administration.
The United States pays the Palestinians “hundred of millions of dollars” a year, Trump wrote in all-capital letters on Twitter. “But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”
The United States provides about $360 million a year to the agency. The State Department made clear Tuesday that further installments will also be held “for future consideration.”
The Palestinians likened Trump’s threat to blackmail, seeing it as further proof that his administration is biased toward Israel. After the president’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the Palestinians have said the United States is not an honest broker of peace. The announcement has led to unrest in the region, with one Israeli and at least 17 Palestinians killed.