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href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/trump-cut-causes-worst-financial-crisis-unrwa-history">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/trump-cut-causes-worst-financial-crisis-unrwa-history</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Trump cut causes "worst financial crisis"
in UNRWA history</h1>
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<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah">Ali
Abunimah</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">-
</span><span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2018-01-17T11:56:12+00:00">17 January 2018</span></span>
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<p>“This is the worst financial crisis in UNRWA’s
history,” Chris Gunness, the spokesperson for the
United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, told The
Electronic Intifada on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Gunness’ dire warning came the day after the Trump
administration announced a savage cut in US
contributions to the organization that provides basic
health, education and emergency humanitarian services
to five million Palestinian refugees.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, the State Department <a
href="https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2018/01/277473.htm">announced</a>
that the US was withholding more than half of a $125
million payment that was due to UNRWA this month.</p>
<p>While $60 million would be paid immediately, State
Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that the
remainder was being “frozen” and “held for future
consideration.”</p>
<p>The US has been the largest single donor to UNRWA,
providing almost $370 million of the agency’s $1.2
billion <a
href="https://www.unrwa.org/sites/default/files/donor_ranking_with_un_agencies_overall.pdf">budget</a>
in 2016.</p>
<p>The cut makes good on <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/trump-punish-palestinians-example-rest-world">threats</a>
President Donald Trump and his UN ambassador Nikki
Haley made in recent weeks to slash funding for
Palestinians in retaliation for the Palestinian
Authority’s objection to the US recognition of
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and its rejection of
American sponsorship of currently nonexistent peace
negotiations.</p>
<p>Haley had reportedly advocated for the US funding to
be cut completely, despite her previous public support
for the agency’s work, including a photo-op with child
refugees last June.</p>
<p>In a <a
href="https://twitter.com/nikkihaley/status/872818534371512321">post
on Twitter</a> at the time, Haley said her visit to
an UNRWA school gave her “the chance to talk with
girls and women about their lives, their hopes and
their dreams.”</p>
<p>But <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2018/01/16/tillerson-prevails-over-haley-in-palestinian-funding-debate/?utm_term=.2136a28422cf">according
to <em>The Washington Post</em></a>, Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson prevailed over Haley in the
internal battle over the funding.</p>
<p>Tillerson reportedly raised the matter “personally
with Trump and secured the president’s agreement to
support the State Department’s position” that not all
the funding should be cut.</p>
<p>Israel has also <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/how-israel-hopes-make-palestinian-refugees-disappear">called
for the dismantling</a> of UNRWA, as part of its
drive to eliminate support for the rights of
Palestinian refugees who remain in exile due to
Israel’s refusal to allow them to return home solely
because they are not Jews.</p>
<h2>Health and futures at stake</h2>
<p>The impact is likely to be felt immediately by some
of the world’s most vulnerable people.</p>
<p>“At stake is the access of 525,000 boys and girls in
700 UNRWA schools, and their future. At stake is the
dignity and human security of millions of Palestine
refugees, in need of emergency food assistance and
other support in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West
Bank and Gaza Strip,” UNRWA commissioner-general
Pierre Krähenbühl <a
href="https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/statement-unrwa-commissioner-general-pierre-kr%C3%A4henb%C3%BChl-1">said
following the US announcement</a>. “At stake is the
access of refugees to primary healthcare, including
prenatal care and other life-saving services.”</p>
<p>Krähenbühl urged other donor states and individuals
around the world “to rally in support” of UNRWA’s work
with funding and donations to replace the American
contribution.</p>
<p>He offered assurances to Palestinian refugees that
“we are working with absolute determination to ensure
that UNRWA services continue” and told students that
schools would stay open “so you can receive your
cherished education.”</p>
<p>But despite those assurances, the agency has already
laid off dozens of teachers in the West Bank,
including East Jerusalem, and about 100 workers in
Jordan, the Israeli newspaper <em>Haaretz</em> <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/unrwa-begins-laying-off-workers-ahead-of-expected-cut-in-u-s-aid-1.5742386">reported
Tuesday</a>.</p>
<p>UNRWA employs about 30,000 people, the vast majority
of them Palestinian refugees.</p>
<p>In face of the crisis, Krähenbühl called on the
agency’s doctors, nurses, school principals, teachers,
guards, sanitation laborers, social workers and
support staff to “be at your duty stations to serve
the community with the same dedication and commitment
that you have always shown.”</p>
<h2>Public support urged</h2>
<p>Krähenbühl’s statement also apparently responds to US
claims that the agency needs “reform.” State
Department spokesperson Nauert said that the US would
“take a look at UNRWA, trying to make sure that the
money is best spent.”</p>
<p>“The US government has consistently commended our
high impact, transparency and accountability,”
Krähenbühl said. “This was reiterated, once again,
during my latest visit to Washington in November 2017,
when every senior US official expressed respect for
UNRWA’s role and for the robustness of its
management.”</p>
<p>The agency has long been the target of smear
campaigns by Israel and its lobby groups who believe
that its mere existence keeps alive the issue of
Palestinian refugees – who they view as a “<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/demographic-threat">demographic
threat</a>” to Israel on the racist grounds that
they are not Jewish.</p>
<p>In an effort to mitigate the humanitarian impact,
UNRWA is turning to the public for support.</p>
<p>Its website features a prominent <a
href="https://www.unrwa.org/donate">call</a> for
public donations in response to the “dramatic
reduction of US funding” and urges social media users
to support the agency with the hashtag
#ForPalestineRefugees.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.unrwausa.org">UNRWA USA</a>, a
charity that supports UNRWA’s work with Palestinians,
sent out an email Tuesday calling for donations and
launching a <a
href="https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/i-want-the-united-states">petition</a>
to urge the White House to reconsider its decision.</p>
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