Trump aid cuts for Palestinian refugees will have serious regional consequences
People depend on UN agency for education, health care and food as camps have turned into concrete slums
Mahmoud Al Qouqa can’t imagine life without the three sacks of flour, cooking oil and other staples he receives from the United Nations every three months.
Living with 25 relatives in a crowded home in this teeming Gaza Strip slum, the meagre rations provided by UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency), the UN agency for Palestinian refugee families, are the last thing keeping his family afloat in the territory hard hit by years of poverty and conflict. But that could be in danger as the US, UNRWA’s biggest donor, threatens to curtail funding.
“It will be like a disaster and no one can predict what the reaction will be,” Al Qouqa said.
Across the Middle East, millions of people who depend on UNRWA are bracing for the worst. The expected cut could also add instability to struggling host countries already coping with spillover from other regional crises.
Origin of agency
UNRWA was established in the wake of the 1948 Middle East war surrounding Israel’s creation. An estimated 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes in the fighting.
In the absence of a solution for these refugees, the UN General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA’s mandate, the original refugee camps have turned into concrete slums and more than five million refugees and their descendants now rely on the agency for services including education, health care and food. The largest populations are in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon.
The US provides about $355 million (Dh1.30 billion) a year to UNRWA, roughly one-third of the agency’s budget. US officials in Washington said last week the administration is preparing to withhold tens of millions of dollars from the year’s first contribution, cutting a planned $125 million instalment by half or perhaps entirely.
Matthias Schmale, UNRWA’s director in Gaza, said Washington has not informed the agency of any changes. However, “we are worried because of the statements ... in the media and the fact that the money hasn’t arrived yet,” he said. Any cut in US aid could ripple across the region with potentially unintended consequences.
Severe unemployment
Gaza may be the most challenging of all of UNRWA’s operating areas. Two-thirds of Gaza’s two million people qualify for services, and its role is amplified given the poor state of the economy, which has been hit hard by three wars launched by the Israeli regime and a blockade since the Hamas took power over a decade ago. Unemployment is 43 per cent and the poverty rate is 38 per cent, according to the official Palestinian statistics office.
“Nowhere else are we the biggest service provider for the population of the entire territory,” Schmale said. He said UNRWA provides food assistance to a million Gazans, calling it “an expression of collective shame for the international community.”
With more than 12,500 teachers, nurses and other staff, UNRWA is Gaza’s largest non-governmental employer. It is also involved in postwar reconstruction projects.
The dire situation in Gaza is evident inside Al Qouqa’s home, which is so cramped the family has made sleeping spaces with wood boards and fabric. Two male family members are unemployed. Two others are Hamas civil servants and get paid only intermittently.
At 72, Al Qouqa is worried about his grandchildren. “If UNRWA provides them with bread, they can remain patient. But if it was cut, what will they become? They will become thieves, criminals and a burden on society,” he said. Many believe Hamas, which administers schools and social services in Gaza, will step in to fill the void.
Jordan, a crucial ally in the US-led battle against militants, is home to the largest number of Palestinian refugees and their descendants — with nearly 2.2 million people eligible for UNRWA services. This has turned the UN agency into a major contributor to social welfare services in the country, which also hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrians displaced by war.
Threat of instability
US aid cuts could heighten the threat of instability in Jordan, which is grappling with a worsening economy hurt by the spillover from conflict in neighbouring Syria and Iraq. More than one-third of Jordan’s young people are without jobs, turning them into potential targets for recruitment by extremists.
Most of the Palestinians eligible for UNRWA services in Jordan hold Jordanian citizenship, and some argue that this has ended their refugee status. But most maintain that UNRWA services are vital to propping up an important ally.
UNRWA’s services are also vital in Lebanon, where Palestinians are prohibited from working in skilled professions and owning property.
The civil war in Syria has made many Palestinians refugees twice over. Some 32,000 Palestinians who were living in Syria fled to Lebanon, according to UNRWA. In Syria, Palestinians enjoyed the right to own property and to work in all professions. They are not entitled to the same in Lebanon.
Balkees Hameed, 33, arrived in 2013 with her husband, two children and in-laws from Damascus, where their apartment was damaged by rocket fire. The family depends on UNRWA assistance to rent a one-bedroom apartment in a ramshackle building in Burj Al Barajneh, a Beirut camp. Her husband wipes tables at a restaurant outside the camp. Hameed, like all Palestinians, was painfully aware of the rumours coming out of Washington.
“We are already defeated and now they want to oppress us some more?” she asked.
$355m Annual US aid to UNRWA, roughly a third of agency’s budget
12,500 teachers, nurses and other staff employed by UNRWA in Gaza