NO MORE FREEBIES: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CUTS TENS OF MILLIONS IN UN AID FOR PALESTINIANS
Channel: BreakingNews365
Date: 2018-01-17

NO MORE FREEBIES: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CUTS TENS OF MILLIONS IN UN AID FOR PALESTINIANS

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President Donald Trump has made good on his promise to hold the United Nations accountable for its wasteful and misguided programs. As a bonus, America sends a clear message to the Palestinians to get their act together.
Earlier today, the White House announced that it was cutting $65 million in aid to the UN’s program for Palestinian refugees, after numerous instances that abuses and mismanagement were keeping actual refugees from being helped.

According to a number of critics, including the nation of Israel, the UN program allowed money to be used for Palestinian propaganda against the Jewish state. Very few refugees, they said, were actually being helped.

The Associated Press reports on the situation.
The Trump administration on Tuesday cut tens of millions of dollars in money for Palestinian refugees, demanding that the U.N. agency responsible for the programs undertake a “fundamental re-examination,” the State Department said.

In a letter, the State Department notified the U.N. Relief and Works Agency that the U.S. is withholding $65 million of a planned $125 million funding installment. The letter also makes clear that additional U.S. donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticized by Israel.

“We would like to see some reforms be made,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, adding that changes are needed both to the way the agency operates and is funded. “This is not aimed at punishing anyone.”
The State Department said it was releasing the rest of the installment — $60 million — to prevent the agency from running out of cash by the end of the month and closing down.

The U.S. is UNWRA’s largest donor, supplying nearly 30 percent of its budget. The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were forced from their homes during the war that led to Israel’s establishment in 1948. Today, there are an estimated 5 million refugees and their descendants, mostly scattered across the region.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization reacted angrily to the move, saying it is targeting “the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinian people and depriving the refugees of the right to education, health, shelter and a dignified life.”

“It is also creating conditions that will generate further instability throughout the region and will demonstrate that it has no compunction in targeting the innocent,” the PLO leadership said in a statement.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was not aware of the decision but warned that UNRWA provides “vital services.”

“I am very concerned and I strongly hope that in the end it will be possible for the United States to maintain the funding of UNRWA in which the U.S. has a very important share,” he told reporters at the U.N.

Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, praised the move, arguing that UNRWA misuses humanitarian aid to support propaganda against the Jewish state and perpetuate the Palestinians’ plight.

“It is time for this absurdity to end and for humanitarian funds to be directed towards their intended purpose: the welfare of refugees,” Danon said in a statement.

The U.S. donated $355 million to UNWRA in 2016 and was set to make a similar contribution in this year; the first installment was to have been sent this month. But after a highly critical Jan. 2 tweet from Trump on aid to the Palestinians, the State Department opted to wait for a formal policy decision before sending its first installment.
Trump’s tweet expressed frustration over the lack of progress in his attempts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and he pointed the finger at the Palestinians. “We pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” he said. “But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”

Israelis accuse the U.N. agency of contributing to Palestinian militancy and allowing its facilities to be used by militants. They also complain that some of UNRWA’s staff are biased against Israel.

Nauert said the United States believes there needs to be more “burden-sharing,” a regular Trump complaint about multilateral organizations dependent on significant contributions of U.S. cash.

“We don’t believe that taking care of other nations and other people have to be solely the United States’ responsibility,” she said.