ZCZC
BFF-17
PALESTINIAN-US-AID-CONDEMN
Palestinians condemn US decision to end aid to UNRWA
RAMALLAH/GAZA, Sept 1, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – The Palestinian authority has
condemned the decision of the United States to stop funding the United
Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency.
“We totally reject and condemn this American decision of stopping its
funding to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East),” said Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the
executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in a
statement late Friday.
The US decision aims to close UNRWA which was founded on UN resolutions,
Erekat said.
The US State Department said earlier Friday that “the United States is
ending all funding for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency.” It described
UNRWA as “irredeemably flawed.”
The US administration has “carefully reviewed” the issue and “will not make
additional contributions to UNRWA,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a
statement.
Ahmad Abu Houli, a PLO member in charge of the refugee issues, said in a
statement that “the UN members and the hosting states of UNRWA should
immediately work on finding alternative donors.”
He said “the aim of the United States to end aid to UNRWA clearly shows
that the United States has plans to end the agency and liquidate the
Palestinian cause as well as practice pressure and political blackmail on the
Palestinian people and their leadership.”
Meanwhile, Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, also condemned the
United States for ending aid to UNRWA.
UNRWA provides services to about five million registered Palestine refugees
in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including
education, health care, relief, social services, infrastructure, and camp
improvement.
BSS/XINHUA/SSS/1041 hrs