In another funding that inches closer to the Palestinian cause, the US has pledged to aid the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA with a whopping 99 million dollars.
On Thursday, the US announced it would assign a colossal sum of money to the UN body aiding Palestinian refugees, with the aim of “pulling Palestinians out of an endemic economic morass.” According to the State Department’s Population, Refugee and Migration Bureau, the money to the UN Relief and Works Agency will “provide education, health care, and emergency relief to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children and families during a time of need.”
Source: Al Jazeera (Courtesy)
It is well known that the aid received by the UNRWA does not necessarily go to a “good cause.” Israel’s previous government had severely criticized the April announcement where Washington sought to restore ties with Ramallah following a freeze during the administration of former President Donald Trump. But the current coalition has mostly refrained from breaking with the Biden administration publicly.
Israel has long pushed for UNRWA’s closure, arguing that it helps perpetuate the conflict with the Palestinians since it confers refugee status upon descendants of those originally displaced around the time of Israel’s War of Independence in 1948. The claim was echoed by former President Trump in his 2018 decision to stop funding the agency.
UNRWA has often been slammed for its textbooks, which promote incitement. Israeli monitoring groups have charged that UNRWA curricula promote violence and deny Israel’s right to exist, among other attempts to incite hate.
JOIN US ON WHAT'SAPP, TO GET INSTANT STATUS UPDATES AND BE IN THE KNOW.
CLICK HERE
