WASHINGTON- The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Tuesdaythat Russia, Kuwait and nine European countries have agreed to speed uptheir contributions to help fill a shortfall left by the Trumpadministration’s decision to reduce crucial US funding.
Commissioner General Pierre Krähenbühl of the UN Relief and Works Agencyalso said it has received no specifics about reforms sought by the UnitedStates, suggesting politics notably surrounding the US decision torecognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital were at play.
UNRWA, which serves some 5 million Palestinian refugees and theirdescendants, had a budget of over $1 billion last year. This coveredlong-running programs, including education, as well as emergency funds forcrises such as the war in Syria.
The US has been the largest donor, giving one-third of the total budget.The Trump administration withheld half of the first installment of paymentsthis year, demanding reforms as a condition for future aid.
The UN agency says the Trump administration has committed $60 million thisyear far short of the $360 million that the US provided last year andKrähenbühl said he has no sign that other US funding might be on the way.
The US has said it is withholding two payments to UNWRA totaling some $100million.
But the administrator of the US Agency for International Development saidFriday that the Trump administration had not yet made decisions regardingcuts in humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
“This process is ongoing, and no funding decisions have been made. As thePresident said, the United States expects the Palestinian leadership towork with us,” USAID’s Mark Green told The Times of Israel on the sidelinesof the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The UNRWA head said the changes marked “a very severe and dramatic changein the parameters of funding from the United States,” which he called a“stable, predictable and most-generous contributor to UNRWA over decades.”
“It is clear that we have a very big task on our hand to fill that gap,”Krähenbühl told reporters in Geneva.
UNRWA responded by calling on donors to speed up their funding, andSwitzerland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Russia, Belgium,Kuwait, the Netherlands and Ireland have taken steps to do so, he said.Others were considering similar action.
“Advancing contributions is extremely important to help us address thefirst few months,” he said. “Of course, a shortfall of $300 million canonly be addressed with obtaining additional income from other sources overthe year.”
The comments Tuesday came as UNRWA said it is seeking $800 million foremergency operations in Syria, the West Bank and Gaza Strip this year.UNRWA sought $400 million each for Syria and the Palestinian territories.In an appeal last week, the agency sought an additional $500 million.