WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) – U.S. officials are pushing back against making aid groups the main U.N. body for the Palestinians, citing opposition from Congress, as the Biden administration insists their humanitarian work is essential. We are preparing to temporarily suspend funding for the
The United States joined more than a dozen countries in January after Israel accused 12 of the 13,000 United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) workers in the Gaza Strip of taking part in the deadly attack. It cut off funding to the agency. October 7th Hamas attack.
The United Nations has launched an investigation into the allegations, and UNRWA fired some of its staff after Israel provided the UN with information about the allegations.
The United States, which is UNRWA’s largest donor and provides between $300 million and $400 million a year, said it wanted to see the results of the investigation and corrective measures taken before considering resuming funding. .
Even if the moratorium were lifted, only the remainder of the funds already allocated, approximately $300,000, would be released to UNRWA. Anything beyond this would require parliamentary approval.
Due to bipartisan opposition in Congress to funding UNRWA, it is unlikely that the United States will resume regular contributions anytime soon, even though countries such as Sweden and Canada have said they will resume contributions.
The U.S. Congress’s additional funding bill, which includes military aid to Israel and Ukraine, includes a provision that would block UNRWA from receiving funding if the bill becomes law. President Joe Biden’s administration supports the bill.
U.S. officials said they recognized UNRWA as playing a “critical role” in distributing aid to populated areas that have been on the brink of starvation due to Israeli attacks over the past five months.
“We need to plan for the fact that Congress may make the moratorium permanent,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Tuesday.
The U.S. government is considering continuing support in cooperation with local humanitarian partners, including UNICEF and the World Food Program (WFP).
But officials acknowledge that replacing UNRWA will be difficult.
“Although there are other organizations currently distributing aid within Gaza, this is primarily a role that UNRWA is uniquely able to play due to its long-standing operations, distribution networks and history within Gaza. ” Miller said.
“UNRWA is the front line”
Several Democrats in the U.S. Senate, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, along with some progressive members of the House of Representatives, oppose an indefinite ban on funding for UNRWA.
But any new funding would require support from at least some Republicans, who hold the House majority. Many people have expressed their opposition to UNRWA.
“UNRWA is a front line, plain and simple,” Rep. Brian Mast, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee’s Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee, said in a statement.
“Pretending to be a relief organization while building infrastructure to support Hamas…literally funneling American tax dollars to terrorism,” Mast said.
Asked to comment on Mr Mast’s claims, Juliette Touma, head of UNRWA’s communications department, said an independent review led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna had confirmed that “UNRWA has taken steps with regard to the neutrality of its institutions, staff and programmes.” He said he was evaluating the measures taken.
“We encourage Member States, individuals and organizations to share and investigate any information regarding allegations against UNRWA with the investigation and ongoing review,” Touma said.
UNRWA was established in 1949 by a United Nations General Assembly resolution after 700,000 Palestinians were evacuated or forced from their homes after the war following the establishment of the state of Israel.
It currently directly employs 30,000 Palestinians and serves the civil and humanitarian needs of 5.9 million descendants of refugees in vast camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and neighboring Arab countries.
In Gaza, UNRWA operates enclave schools, primary health clinics, and other social services, and distributes humanitarian aid.
William Deere, director of UNRWA’s Washington representative office, told Reuters that U.S. assistance accounts for a third of UNRWA’s budget.
“It’s going to be very difficult to overcome,” he said. “Remember, UNRWA is about more than Gaza. It’s health, education and social services. East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.”
According to Israeli tallies, fighters from Hamas, which rules Gaza, killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in the October 7 attack on Israel. The attack sparked one of the bloodiest wars in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Gaza authorities say Israel’s retaliatory military operations in the populated area have killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, destroyed infrastructure and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation.
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Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis. Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle. Editing: Don Durfee, Michael Perry, Paul Simao
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