BICOM

The US has decided to withhold $65m of funding destined for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), notifying the agency in a letter from the State Department yesterday.

The letter also confirmed that future donations by the US will depend on major changes to UNRWA.

State Department spokeswomen Heather Nauert stressed that the money was not being cancelled, but is instead being “held for future consideration. It’s money that’s being frozen at this time”. Nauert also explained that the Trump administration “believe that there should be more so-called burden sharing to go around”.

“We would like other countries – in fact, other countries that criticise the US for what they believe to be our position vis-a-vis the Palestinians, other countries that have criticised us – to step forward and actually help with UNRWA, to do more,” she said. The US is the largest donor to UNRWA, contributing 29 per cent of the agency’s annual budget, totalling $368m in 2016. The EU is the second largest donor with $160m and the UK the fifth largest donating $73m in 2016.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision, calling it “the first time that there is a challenge to UNRWA, after 70 years” and noting that the agency “perpetuates the Palestinian narrative and the erasing of Zionism”. The Prime Minister reiterated his view that aid to Palestinians should instead pass through the UN’s main refugee body, the UN High Commission for Refugee.

Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s delegation to the US, said that Palestinian refugees and children’s access to basic humanitarian services was “not a bargaining chip but a US and international obligation”.

On 2 January, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley warned that the US may stop funding UNRWA if the Palestinians continue to refuse to negotiate with Israel. “As of now, they’re not coming to the table, but they ask for aid,” she noted.