Palestinian demonstrators are confronted Israeli soldiers during a demonstration in the West Bank town of Hebron on February 16, 2018. (Photo: Hazem Bader / AFP / Getty Images)
One of the most consequential actions Donald Trump took during the first year of his presidency was to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017. When the Palestinians predictably responded by pulling out of the US-led “peace process,” Trump retaliated by cutting US financial support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by more than 50 percent.
“A Death Sentence” for Gazan Refugees
The US cutback in aid to UNRWA critically threatens the access of Palestinian refugees to food, health care and education.
In Gaza, 1.3 million Palestinian refugees, who comprise 70 percent of Gaza’s population, depend on UNRWA for food assistance. The refugee crisis was aggravated by Israel’s 2014 massacre in Gaza.
Established by the UN General Assembly in 1949, UNRWA was mandated to provide assistance and protection to roughly 5 million registered Palestinian refugees forced off their land by the 1948 creation of Israel. Palestinians call this event the “Nakba,” which is Arabic for catastrophe. This year marks its 70th anniversary.
The United States, UNRWA’s largest donor, contributes $125 million annually. But Trump is withholding $65 million from the next scheduled US payment unless the Palestinians participate in peace talks with Israel. On January 2, Trump tweeted, “with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”
But the consequences of withholding these payments are deadly.
“Any reduction of aid would be a death sentence for refugees in Gaza,” Ahmed al-Assar, who lives in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, told The Washington Post.
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