105 
launching rockets and mortars against Israeli 
civilian targets, stating that residents of Gaza 
‘‘have absorbed—and continue to experience— 
military incursions in which civilian lives, liveli-
hoods, and property have been destroyed, and 
to which they have responded with the contin-
uous firing of Qassam rockets into Israel.’’. 
(K) On March 8, 2007, former UNRWA 
commissioner-general Karen AbuZayd, com-
paring the 1948 Arab-Israeli War with more re-
cent conflicts between Israel and Palestinian 
militant groups, stated that ‘‘[T]here is a strik-
ing historical continuity in the systematic ap-
proach to use overwhelming and dispropor-
tionate force in the name of security; to sepa-
rate and exclude Palestinians from the main-
stream; to eject them from their land; and to 
occupy Palestinian land.’’. 
(L) 
On 
January 
19, 
2005, 
former 
UNRWA commissioner-general Peter Hansen 
stated that ‘‘My job [is] to represent the refu-
gees.’’. 
(M) In 2002, former UNRWA commis-
sioner-general Peter Hansen falsely accused 
Israel of carrying out a ‘‘massacre’’ in 
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106 
UNRWA’s Jenin refugee camp after Israeli 
forces entered the camp, a base of operations 
for Palestinian militant groups, to carry out de-
fensive operations to halt repeated homicide 
bombings in Israel. 
(N) In 1964, UNRWA allowed its staff to 
attend the conference in Jerusalem where the 
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was 
established. 
(32) Despite UNRWA’s contravention of U.S. 
law and activities that compromise its strictly hu-
manitarian mandate, UNRWA continues to receive 
United States contributions, including $237.8 mil-
lion in fiscal year 2010. 
(33) The bilateral ‘‘Framework for Coopera-
tion’’ that the United States concluded with 
UNRWA for 2010 actually ‘‘commends’’ UNRWA 
and does not commit UNRWA to vetting its per-
sonnel and aid recipients through United States 
watch lists. 
(34) Assistance from the United States and 
other responsible nations allows UNRWA to claim 
that criticisms of the agency’s behavior are un-
founded. UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness 
has dismissed concerns by stating that ‘‘If these 
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107 
baseless allegations were even halfway true, do you 
really think the U.S. and [European Commission] 
would give us hundreds of millions of dollars per 
year?’’ 
(35) Former UNRWA general counsel James 
Lindsay noted in a 2009 report that: 
(A) ‘‘The United States, despite funding 
nearly 75 percent of UNRWA’s national budget 
and remaining its largest single country donor, 
has mostly failed to make UNRWA reflect U.S. 
foreign policy objectives . . . Recent U.S. ef-
forts to shape UNRWA appear to have been in-
effective . . .’’; 
(B) ‘‘[T]he United States is not obligated 
to fund agencies that refuse to check its rolls 
for individuals their donors do not wish to sup-
port.’’; 
(C) ‘‘A number of changes in UNRWA 
could benefit the refugees, the Middle East, and 
the United States, but those changes will not 
occur unless the United States, ideally with 
support from UNRWA’s other main financial 
supporter, the European Union, compels the 
agency to enact reforms.’’; and 
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108 
(D) ‘‘If the [UNRWA commissioner-gen-
eral’s] power is used in ways that are conflict 
with the donors’ political objectives, it is up to 
the donors to take the necessary actions to en-
sure that their interests are respected. When 
they have done so, UNRWA—given the tight fi-
nancial leash it has been on for most of its ex-
istence—has tended to follow their dictates, 
even if sometimes slowly.’’. 
(36) The Government of Canada has recently 
placed restrictions on its contributions to UNRWA, 
demonstrating consequences for UNRWA’s malfea-
sance and setting an example for the United States 
and other donor governments. 
SEC. 802. UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNRWA. 
Section 301 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
is amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 
following new subsection: 
‘‘(c)(1) 
WITHHOLDING.—Contributions 
by 
the 
United States to the United Nations Relief and Works 
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 
(UNRWA), to any successor or related entity, or to the 
regular budget of the United Nations for the support of 
UNRWA or a successor entity (through staff positions 
provided by the United Nations Secretariat, or otherwise), 
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109 
may be provided only during a period for which a certifi-
cation described in paragraph (2) is in effect. 
‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—A certification described in 
this paragraph is a written determination by the Secretary 
of State, based on all information available after diligent 
inquiry, and transmitted to the appropriate congressional 
committees along with a detailed description of the factual 
basis therefor, that— 
‘‘(A) no official, employee, consultant, con-
tractor, subcontractor, representative, or affiliate of 
UNRWA— 
‘‘(i) is a member of a Foreign Terrorist 
Organization; 
‘‘(ii) has propagated, disseminated, or in-
cited anti-American, anti-Israel, or anti-Semitic 
rhetoric or propaganda; or 
‘‘(iii) has used any UNRWA resources, in-
cluding publications or Web sites, to propagate 
or disseminate political materials, including po-
litical rhetoric regarding the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict; 
‘‘(B) no UNRWA school, hospital, clinic, other 
facility, or other infrastructure or resource is being 
used by a Foreign Terrorist Organization for oper-
ations, planning, training, recruitment, fundraising, 
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