30 aug 2018
The US administration has decided to end all funding to UNRWA, the agency that provides humanitarian aid to millions of Palestinian refugees, several informed sources told Foreign Policy magazine.
The decision was taken months after US president Donald Trump scaled back his country’s financial support for UNRWA.
Foreign Policy quoted analysts as saying that the step would cause more hardship and possibly unrest in Gaza, the West Bank, and other parts of the Middle East.
The decision was made at a meeting earlier this month between Trump’s advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and secretary of state Mike Pompeo, according to the sources.
The administration has informed key regional governments in recent weeks of its plan.
The US had been providing UNRWA some $350 million a year, which was more than any other country gave. The sum amounted to more than a quarter of the agency’s $1.2 billion annual budget.
The decision was taken months after US president Donald Trump scaled back his country’s financial support for UNRWA.
Foreign Policy quoted analysts as saying that the step would cause more hardship and possibly unrest in Gaza, the West Bank, and other parts of the Middle East.
The decision was made at a meeting earlier this month between Trump’s advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and secretary of state Mike Pompeo, according to the sources.
The administration has informed key regional governments in recent weeks of its plan.
The US had been providing UNRWA some $350 million a year, which was more than any other country gave. The sum amounted to more than a quarter of the agency’s $1.2 billion annual budget.
29 aug 2018
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley vetos an Egyptian-drafted resolution regarding recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem, during the United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including Palestine, at U.N. Headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., December 18, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid – RC19707F9890
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley questioned UN statistics on the number of Palestinian refugees and ruled out the right of return, in the latest move by the Trump administration to challenge how aid is given to the Palestinians.
In comments on Tuesday to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a research institute in Washington that often sympathizes with Israel, Haley agreed with a source that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was exaggerating the numbers of Palestinian refugees.
She suggested that the Trump administration would consider officially rejecting the the Palestinian claim that all refugees who were displaced between 1947 and 1948 and their descendants should be allowed to return to modern day Israel after a final peace agreement.
“You’re looking at the fact that, yes, there’s an endless number of refugees that continue to get assistance,” Haley said, adding that the Trump White House would not restore its previous funding levels unless the body made dramatic changes.
“We will be a donor if [UNRWA] reforms what it does … if they actually change the number of refugees to an accurate account, we will look back at partnering them,” she said, adding that “the Palestinians continue to bash America” and yet “they have their hand out wanting UNRWA money.”
The United States earlier this year cut its aid to UNRWA to $60 million after pledging $350 million a year.
“If we actually change the number of refugees to an exact number, we will reconsider our partnership,” Haley said.
UNRWA says it provides services to some 5 million Palestinian refugees – mostly descendants of refugees who were displaced and expelled from Palestine during the 1948 war that established Israel on the ruins of the Palestinian people.
Haley said that other Arab states in the Middle East needed to pressure the Palestinians to change course if there were ever to be a final peace accord.
“We have to have them come to the table for a peace agreement,” Haley said. “That’s only going to happen if the region pushes them for that to happen.”
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley questioned UN statistics on the number of Palestinian refugees and ruled out the right of return, in the latest move by the Trump administration to challenge how aid is given to the Palestinians.
In comments on Tuesday to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a research institute in Washington that often sympathizes with Israel, Haley agreed with a source that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was exaggerating the numbers of Palestinian refugees.
She suggested that the Trump administration would consider officially rejecting the the Palestinian claim that all refugees who were displaced between 1947 and 1948 and their descendants should be allowed to return to modern day Israel after a final peace agreement.
“You’re looking at the fact that, yes, there’s an endless number of refugees that continue to get assistance,” Haley said, adding that the Trump White House would not restore its previous funding levels unless the body made dramatic changes.
“We will be a donor if [UNRWA] reforms what it does … if they actually change the number of refugees to an accurate account, we will look back at partnering them,” she said, adding that “the Palestinians continue to bash America” and yet “they have their hand out wanting UNRWA money.”
The United States earlier this year cut its aid to UNRWA to $60 million after pledging $350 million a year.
“If we actually change the number of refugees to an exact number, we will reconsider our partnership,” Haley said.
UNRWA says it provides services to some 5 million Palestinian refugees – mostly descendants of refugees who were displaced and expelled from Palestine during the 1948 war that established Israel on the ruins of the Palestinian people.
Haley said that other Arab states in the Middle East needed to pressure the Palestinians to change course if there were ever to be a final peace accord.
“We have to have them come to the table for a peace agreement,” Haley said. “That’s only going to happen if the region pushes them for that to happen.”
28 aug 2018
The 1948 Nakba and its ethnic cleansing that led to change in the population of Palestine and control over the land set a de facto situation imposed by the power of an occupying force whose results has continued with the continuation of the occupation of the land and failure to implement international resolutions on the return of refugees.
The Nakba and the dispossession of more than 800,000 Palestinians from their villages and towns out of the 1.4 million Palestinians who lived in historic Palestine in 1948 in 1,300 Palestinian villages and towns was the beginning of the suffering of generations deprived of their right to their land who have become to be known as refugees until their return.
The official estimate of the number of Palestinian refugees on the eve of the 1948 war goes back to various sources. However, the United Nations has two estimates: the first indicates that the number of Palestinian refugees reached 726,000, based on estimates from 1949, and the second 957,000 based on the 1950 estimates.
According to the annual statistics of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) 2018, the number of official Palestinian refugee camps recognized by UNRWA is 12 in Lebanon, 10 in Jordan, 9 in Syria, 19 in the West Bank, and 8 in the Gaza Strip.
The number of refugees registered with UNRWA in 2017 was 5.9 million, representing the minimum number of Palestinian refugees. The Palestinian refugees residing in the West Bank registered with UNRWA in 2017 accounted for 17% of the total number of refugees registered with UNRWA, compared to 24.4% in the Gaza Strip. In the Arab countries, the percentage of Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA in Jordan was 39.0% of the total Palestinian refugees, while 9.1% in Lebanon and 10.5% in Syria.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the number of refugees in 2017 represents 43% of the total population in the State of Palestine, and 26.6% of the population in the West Bank are refugees, while the percentage of refugees in the Gaza Strip is 66.2%.
The statistics indicate that the Palestinian refugee population is young, with 39.9% of the total population in Palestine in 2017 are below 15 years of age, which is 39.3% of the total refugee population, and 38.6% of total non-refugees. The percentage of elderly persons aged 60 and over was 4.9% of the total refugee population in the State of Palestine, while the percentage of non-refugees reached 5%.
According to the report, the proportion of disability / difficulty among refugees is more prevalent, with 6.8% of Palestinian refugees suffer from disability / difficulty compared to 5.1% among non-refugees. It was found that individuals with disability / difficulty in sight rise among refugees compared to non-refugees, with 3.1% and 2.3% respectively, while the percentage of people with disability / difficulty in movement among refugees was 3.5% compared to 2.5% among non-refugees.
The Labor Force Survey of 2017 showed that the participation rate in the labor force was 45.3%, with 45.2% among refugees aged 15 and over residing in Palestine compared to 45.3% among non-refugees and the unemployment rate among refugees is 34.7% compared to 22.8% among non-refugees.
One third of the refugees are employed as professionals, technicians, assistants and clerks. These occupations are the most accommodating for refugees, with 32.8% of working refugees compared with 22.4% among non-refugee workers.
As for the situation of the Palestinian refugees in the diaspora, a study prepared by FAFO on the living conditions in the Palestinian camps in Jordan in 2011 indicated that 39.9% of the camp population is under the age of 15 years and the average size of the family in the camps was 5.1, and the illiteracy rate among individuals aged 15 and over was 8.6%.
The results of the general census of Palestinian refugees in the Palestinian camps and gatherings in Lebanon for 2017 show that they are based in the Sidon region at 35.8%, then in the North by 25.1%, in Tire 14.7% and in Beirut 13.4% Chouf 7.1% and then the Beqaa region by 4%. The results indicated that about 4.9% of Palestinian refugees have non-Palestinian nationality.
The Nakba and the dispossession of more than 800,000 Palestinians from their villages and towns out of the 1.4 million Palestinians who lived in historic Palestine in 1948 in 1,300 Palestinian villages and towns was the beginning of the suffering of generations deprived of their right to their land who have become to be known as refugees until their return.
The official estimate of the number of Palestinian refugees on the eve of the 1948 war goes back to various sources. However, the United Nations has two estimates: the first indicates that the number of Palestinian refugees reached 726,000, based on estimates from 1949, and the second 957,000 based on the 1950 estimates.
According to the annual statistics of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) 2018, the number of official Palestinian refugee camps recognized by UNRWA is 12 in Lebanon, 10 in Jordan, 9 in Syria, 19 in the West Bank, and 8 in the Gaza Strip.
The number of refugees registered with UNRWA in 2017 was 5.9 million, representing the minimum number of Palestinian refugees. The Palestinian refugees residing in the West Bank registered with UNRWA in 2017 accounted for 17% of the total number of refugees registered with UNRWA, compared to 24.4% in the Gaza Strip. In the Arab countries, the percentage of Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA in Jordan was 39.0% of the total Palestinian refugees, while 9.1% in Lebanon and 10.5% in Syria.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the number of refugees in 2017 represents 43% of the total population in the State of Palestine, and 26.6% of the population in the West Bank are refugees, while the percentage of refugees in the Gaza Strip is 66.2%.
The statistics indicate that the Palestinian refugee population is young, with 39.9% of the total population in Palestine in 2017 are below 15 years of age, which is 39.3% of the total refugee population, and 38.6% of total non-refugees. The percentage of elderly persons aged 60 and over was 4.9% of the total refugee population in the State of Palestine, while the percentage of non-refugees reached 5%.
According to the report, the proportion of disability / difficulty among refugees is more prevalent, with 6.8% of Palestinian refugees suffer from disability / difficulty compared to 5.1% among non-refugees. It was found that individuals with disability / difficulty in sight rise among refugees compared to non-refugees, with 3.1% and 2.3% respectively, while the percentage of people with disability / difficulty in movement among refugees was 3.5% compared to 2.5% among non-refugees.
The Labor Force Survey of 2017 showed that the participation rate in the labor force was 45.3%, with 45.2% among refugees aged 15 and over residing in Palestine compared to 45.3% among non-refugees and the unemployment rate among refugees is 34.7% compared to 22.8% among non-refugees.
One third of the refugees are employed as professionals, technicians, assistants and clerks. These occupations are the most accommodating for refugees, with 32.8% of working refugees compared with 22.4% among non-refugee workers.
As for the situation of the Palestinian refugees in the diaspora, a study prepared by FAFO on the living conditions in the Palestinian camps in Jordan in 2011 indicated that 39.9% of the camp population is under the age of 15 years and the average size of the family in the camps was 5.1, and the illiteracy rate among individuals aged 15 and over was 8.6%.
The results of the general census of Palestinian refugees in the Palestinian camps and gatherings in Lebanon for 2017 show that they are based in the Sidon region at 35.8%, then in the North by 25.1%, in Tire 14.7% and in Beirut 13.4% Chouf 7.1% and then the Beqaa region by 4%. The results indicated that about 4.9% of Palestinian refugees have non-Palestinian nationality.
Following its recent decision to cut drastically more than $200 million in aid funds allocated to benefit the Palestinian citizens directly, the Trump administration continues to dismantle the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and strip millions of Palestinians of their refugee status.
“After using humanitarian aid to blackmail and pressure the Palestinian leadership to submit to the empty plan known as “the deal of the century”, the Trump administration plans to commit an immoral scandal against Palestinian refugees by giving itself the right to abolish the historical rights of Palestinian refugees without any legitimacy.
This is a clear looting of our humanity leading to more chaos in the region,” spokesperson for PM Rami Hamdallah’s office, Ahmad Shami, said according to the PNN.
“We reiterate our calls to the international community to stop the gambling schema of Trump and Netanyahu to endorse colonization, apartheid, and denial of Palestinian fundamental rights,” Shami said.
In addition, “to underpin President Abbas initiative to hold an international peace conference to restore hopes for peace through the internationally adopted two-state solution,” he added.
“After using humanitarian aid to blackmail and pressure the Palestinian leadership to submit to the empty plan known as “the deal of the century”, the Trump administration plans to commit an immoral scandal against Palestinian refugees by giving itself the right to abolish the historical rights of Palestinian refugees without any legitimacy.
This is a clear looting of our humanity leading to more chaos in the region,” spokesperson for PM Rami Hamdallah’s office, Ahmad Shami, said according to the PNN.
“We reiterate our calls to the international community to stop the gambling schema of Trump and Netanyahu to endorse colonization, apartheid, and denial of Palestinian fundamental rights,” Shami said.
In addition, “to underpin President Abbas initiative to hold an international peace conference to restore hopes for peace through the internationally adopted two-state solution,” he added.
27 aug 2018
The government of Japan have announced plans to provide emergency assistance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), amid growing concerns about the agency's financial crisis.
UNRWA currently faces a budget deficit of $270 million, which would force the agency to suspend its activities by the end of September, as it could cause serious consequences regarding the humanitarian situation and will negatively affect the stability of the region.
UNRWA confirmed that the Japanese government announced it would provide assistance to the agency by the end of the week, in the amount of $5.4 million, which will be officially signed during a signing ceremony on Tuesday morning.
Japan has long been considered a valued donor to UNRWA. Since 1973, Japan has been a member of the UNRWA Advisory Commission, which advises and assists the UNRWA Commissioner-General in carrying out the agency’s mandate. In 2017, Japan has contributed a total of $43.3 million in aid.
These funds will be immediately utilized to provide food aid to about one million Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
UNRWA's financial crisis comes after the United States announced in mid-January the reduction of financial support to UNRWA from $350 million to $60 million, in order "to urge the Palestinians to resume negotiations with Israel."
The contributions from the U.S. made up a third of the agency's budget, according to UNRWA's website.
UNRWA currently faces a budget deficit of $270 million, which would force the agency to suspend its activities by the end of September, as it could cause serious consequences regarding the humanitarian situation and will negatively affect the stability of the region.
UNRWA confirmed that the Japanese government announced it would provide assistance to the agency by the end of the week, in the amount of $5.4 million, which will be officially signed during a signing ceremony on Tuesday morning.
Japan has long been considered a valued donor to UNRWA. Since 1973, Japan has been a member of the UNRWA Advisory Commission, which advises and assists the UNRWA Commissioner-General in carrying out the agency’s mandate. In 2017, Japan has contributed a total of $43.3 million in aid.
These funds will be immediately utilized to provide food aid to about one million Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
UNRWA's financial crisis comes after the United States announced in mid-January the reduction of financial support to UNRWA from $350 million to $60 million, in order "to urge the Palestinians to resume negotiations with Israel."
The contributions from the U.S. made up a third of the agency's budget, according to UNRWA's website.
US President Donald Trump’s administration is to take substantial steps against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in general, and against refugees in the West Bank in particular, Hebrew channel 2 revealed on Saturday.
According to the channel, the US is to take several measures against the UNRWA field office in the West Bank, including the suspension of its budget in in the West Bank, and a ban on the transfer of funds from other states, to the UNRWA.
It reported that the US intends to recognize just one tenth of Palestinian refugees — in other words, a half a million refugees — instead of more than 5 million recognized refugees in various countries.
This policy intends to wave the Palestinian right of return. Next September, the US administration is to take the first action in implementing the policy by recognizing just the ancestral population as refugees; but, their descendants will not be recognized.
The second step, according to Al Ray Palestinian media agency is to remove the UNRWA as an international aid agency for Palestine refugees, and to include it in the policy of refugees worldwide.
The United States will also ask Israel to reconsider the UNRWA’s mandate in the West Bank, to ensure that Arab countries are unable to transfer financial aid to the agency instead of US aid.
The channel revealed that Israel considers the US step a historical one, after announcing occupied Jerusalem as a capital of Israel. By waving Palestinians’ right of return and announcing Jerusalem as the capital will create a new reality on the ground.
According to the channel, the US is to take several measures against the UNRWA field office in the West Bank, including the suspension of its budget in in the West Bank, and a ban on the transfer of funds from other states, to the UNRWA.
It reported that the US intends to recognize just one tenth of Palestinian refugees — in other words, a half a million refugees — instead of more than 5 million recognized refugees in various countries.
This policy intends to wave the Palestinian right of return. Next September, the US administration is to take the first action in implementing the policy by recognizing just the ancestral population as refugees; but, their descendants will not be recognized.
The second step, according to Al Ray Palestinian media agency is to remove the UNRWA as an international aid agency for Palestine refugees, and to include it in the policy of refugees worldwide.
The United States will also ask Israel to reconsider the UNRWA’s mandate in the West Bank, to ensure that Arab countries are unable to transfer financial aid to the agency instead of US aid.
The channel revealed that Israel considers the US step a historical one, after announcing occupied Jerusalem as a capital of Israel. By waving Palestinians’ right of return and announcing Jerusalem as the capital will create a new reality on the ground.
26 aug 2018
Washington is set to announce that it will no longer recognize millions of Palestinian refugees' "right of return" to the Israel occupied territories, Israeli media reports.
According to Israel's Hadashot News on Saturday, the administration of US President Donald Trump will make the announcement over the next few days, in which it will claim that only around one million Palestinians are eligible for refugee status.
The claim will contradict UN statistics which classify over five million Palestinians as refugees.
Earlier this month, the American magazine Foreign Policy obtained emails written by Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, to senior US officials in which he pressured Jordan to remove the refugee status of millions of Palestinians in a bid to disrupt UNRWA's work.
Washington has on multiple occasions voiced opposition over treating the descendants of Palestinian refugees as refugees themselves.
In January, the US government announced that it would withhold $65 million of a $125 million aid installment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
On Friday, the United States also canceled over $200 million in funds for the Palestinian Authority.
Also on Friday, the UNRWA head suggested that the US had slashed the agency's budget to punish the Palestinians for their criticism of Washington's recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s "capital."
“I can say with a great degree of confidence that the decision was not related to UNRWA’s performance because in November I had received very constructive and openly positive feedback on those issues,” Pierre Kraehenbuehl told the Associated Press.
“A few weeks later, tensions increased around the question of Jerusalem [al-Quds],” he added. “It appears that the humanitarian funding to UNRWA got caught up in the deep polarization around that question.”
US-Palestine ties deteriorated last December, when Trump declared Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel and announced plans to transfer the embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city.
Israeli Media Sources: US Plans to Reject Palestinian Right of Return
According to Israeli Hebrew-language media outlets, unnamed officials in the US administration told them that the US Presidents plans in the coming weeks to announce the rejection of the right of return of five million Palestinian refugees, along with a suspension of all funding to the United Nations Refugee and Works Agency, which provides emergency food aid to millions of Palestinian refugees.
Palestinian refugees consist of the 750,000 Palestinians who were forcibly removed from their homes inside what is now Israel during the creation of that state in 1948 and their descendants, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forcibly removed in 1967 with the Israeli military takeover of Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza and their descendants.
According to +972Mag, “Palestinian refugees are sentenced to life at birth, and for many of them even a winning lottery ticket wouldn’t be enough to buy the right to own property, or enough education to become a lawyer or a doctor. Most of the 5 million refugees registered with UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) in five different host countries live in similar or worse conditions, permanently deprived of most rights ascribed to the citizens of any country.
“There are more than 70 professions denied to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, for example, and over 80 of them in Jordan. In neither country can they work even as a taxi driver, for that would require a driver’s license and most of them cannot legally possess one. In Lebanon, even the materials necessary for building a refugee shack are regulated by law – bricks and a proper roof are too permanent, and thus illegal.”
The U.S. rejection of the Palestinian right of return will make that country’s role as a mediator in the conflict much more difficult to reconcile with its policy position – especially coming in the wake of the December decision by Donald Trump to move the U.S. Consulate from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move which denies the right to exist of the nearly one million Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.
According to the Israeli media reports, the U.S. will reject the United Nations definition of Palestinian refugees, which includes 5.3 million people living in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Instead, the current U.S. administration will recognize just half a million refugees – the elderly survivors of the 1948 Nakba (Catastrophe) and 1967 Naksa (Setback) themselves, and not their descendants.
For decades, Palestinians living in squalid conditions in refugee camps have anxiously awaited the results of peace talks that have repeatedly promised them a return to their ancestral homes in what is now Israel. The U.S., through various administrations, has frequently acted as a mediator in these peace talks through the years – but has never succeeded in bringing about a lasting peace. The Palestine Liberation Organization, which became the Palestinian Authority in 1993, has continually confronted the U.S. about the one-sidedness of its mediation efforts, in which its representatives have worked with Israeli authorities to bully the Palestinian representatives into accepting terms for peace that negate the basic Palestinian rights.
The three core demands of the Palestinian people are the right of return of the Palestinian refugees, the release of all Palestinian political prisoners, and the unification of Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.
The U.S. has, over the last year and a half of the Trump presidency, has taken steps to effectively deny each of these demands – from the U.S. Embassy move to the support of Israeli imprisonment of Palestinian political leaders and children, to the upcoming plan to deny the Palestinian refugees their right of return.
According to Israel's Hadashot News on Saturday, the administration of US President Donald Trump will make the announcement over the next few days, in which it will claim that only around one million Palestinians are eligible for refugee status.
The claim will contradict UN statistics which classify over five million Palestinians as refugees.
Earlier this month, the American magazine Foreign Policy obtained emails written by Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, to senior US officials in which he pressured Jordan to remove the refugee status of millions of Palestinians in a bid to disrupt UNRWA's work.
Washington has on multiple occasions voiced opposition over treating the descendants of Palestinian refugees as refugees themselves.
In January, the US government announced that it would withhold $65 million of a $125 million aid installment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
On Friday, the United States also canceled over $200 million in funds for the Palestinian Authority.
Also on Friday, the UNRWA head suggested that the US had slashed the agency's budget to punish the Palestinians for their criticism of Washington's recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s "capital."
“I can say with a great degree of confidence that the decision was not related to UNRWA’s performance because in November I had received very constructive and openly positive feedback on those issues,” Pierre Kraehenbuehl told the Associated Press.
“A few weeks later, tensions increased around the question of Jerusalem [al-Quds],” he added. “It appears that the humanitarian funding to UNRWA got caught up in the deep polarization around that question.”
US-Palestine ties deteriorated last December, when Trump declared Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel and announced plans to transfer the embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city.
Israeli Media Sources: US Plans to Reject Palestinian Right of Return
According to Israeli Hebrew-language media outlets, unnamed officials in the US administration told them that the US Presidents plans in the coming weeks to announce the rejection of the right of return of five million Palestinian refugees, along with a suspension of all funding to the United Nations Refugee and Works Agency, which provides emergency food aid to millions of Palestinian refugees.
Palestinian refugees consist of the 750,000 Palestinians who were forcibly removed from their homes inside what is now Israel during the creation of that state in 1948 and their descendants, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forcibly removed in 1967 with the Israeli military takeover of Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza and their descendants.
According to +972Mag, “Palestinian refugees are sentenced to life at birth, and for many of them even a winning lottery ticket wouldn’t be enough to buy the right to own property, or enough education to become a lawyer or a doctor. Most of the 5 million refugees registered with UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) in five different host countries live in similar or worse conditions, permanently deprived of most rights ascribed to the citizens of any country.
“There are more than 70 professions denied to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, for example, and over 80 of them in Jordan. In neither country can they work even as a taxi driver, for that would require a driver’s license and most of them cannot legally possess one. In Lebanon, even the materials necessary for building a refugee shack are regulated by law – bricks and a proper roof are too permanent, and thus illegal.”
The U.S. rejection of the Palestinian right of return will make that country’s role as a mediator in the conflict much more difficult to reconcile with its policy position – especially coming in the wake of the December decision by Donald Trump to move the U.S. Consulate from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move which denies the right to exist of the nearly one million Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.
According to the Israeli media reports, the U.S. will reject the United Nations definition of Palestinian refugees, which includes 5.3 million people living in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Instead, the current U.S. administration will recognize just half a million refugees – the elderly survivors of the 1948 Nakba (Catastrophe) and 1967 Naksa (Setback) themselves, and not their descendants.
For decades, Palestinians living in squalid conditions in refugee camps have anxiously awaited the results of peace talks that have repeatedly promised them a return to their ancestral homes in what is now Israel. The U.S., through various administrations, has frequently acted as a mediator in these peace talks through the years – but has never succeeded in bringing about a lasting peace. The Palestine Liberation Organization, which became the Palestinian Authority in 1993, has continually confronted the U.S. about the one-sidedness of its mediation efforts, in which its representatives have worked with Israeli authorities to bully the Palestinian representatives into accepting terms for peace that negate the basic Palestinian rights.
The three core demands of the Palestinian people are the right of return of the Palestinian refugees, the release of all Palestinian political prisoners, and the unification of Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.
The U.S. has, over the last year and a half of the Trump presidency, has taken steps to effectively deny each of these demands – from the U.S. Embassy move to the support of Israeli imprisonment of Palestinian political leaders and children, to the upcoming plan to deny the Palestinian refugees their right of return.
23 aug 2018
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) currently faces a budget deficit of $270 million, which could cause serious consequences for the humanitarian situation in the region.
During a UN security council meeting, UN Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs Rosemary Anne DeCarlo said, “We always take note of the unprecedented financial problems that UNRWA has faced.”
DeCarlo stressed, according to Ma’an, “The Secretary-General warned that if we cannot cover UNRWA’s budget deficit of $270 million, we will face serious repercussions regarding the humanitarian situation, which will negatively affect the stability of the region.”
DeCarlo called on the international community to make every effort to meet UNRWA’s budget deficit.
This comes after the United States announced, in mid-January, the reduction of financial support to UNRWA from $350 million to $60 million, in order “to urge the Palestinians to resume negotiations with Israel.”
Following the U.S. decision, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other State Department officials, warned that such a move would create a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Jordan and the occupied West Bank.
The contributions from the U.S. made up a third of the agency’s budget, according to UNRWA’s website.
During a UN security council meeting, UN Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs Rosemary Anne DeCarlo said, “We always take note of the unprecedented financial problems that UNRWA has faced.”
DeCarlo stressed, according to Ma’an, “The Secretary-General warned that if we cannot cover UNRWA’s budget deficit of $270 million, we will face serious repercussions regarding the humanitarian situation, which will negatively affect the stability of the region.”
DeCarlo called on the international community to make every effort to meet UNRWA’s budget deficit.
This comes after the United States announced, in mid-January, the reduction of financial support to UNRWA from $350 million to $60 million, in order “to urge the Palestinians to resume negotiations with Israel.”
Following the U.S. decision, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other State Department officials, warned that such a move would create a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Jordan and the occupied West Bank.
The contributions from the U.S. made up a third of the agency’s budget, according to UNRWA’s website.
22 aug 2018
US national security advisor says Washington understands 'the Israeli claim that it has annexed the Golan Heights' but 'there's no change in the US position for now'; charges that UNRWA 'violates standard international law on the status of refugees.'
The Trump administration is not discussing possible US recognition of Israel's claim of sovereignty over the Golan Heights, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said.
Israel captured much of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in a move not endorsed internationally.
In May, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said that US recognition could be forthcoming within months.
"I've heard the idea being suggested but there's no discussion of it, no decision within the US government," Bolton told Reuters during a visit to Israel.
"Obviously we understand the Israeli claim that it has annexed the Golan Heights—we understand their position—but there's no change in the US position for now."
Palestinians seek other territories that Israel captured in 1967—the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem—for a future state. US-backed talks on that goal stalled in 2014.
The Trump administration has tried to restart the diplomacy but has been cold-shouldered by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since it recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital last December.
Washington has also signaled possible accommodation with Israel's West Bank settlements, dropping the term "occupied" from some US documentation about the territory. Most world powers deem the settlements illegal.
Asked whether the Trump administration envisaged Palestinian statehood as the way forward, Bolton sounded circumspect.
"I think it's been the US view for a long time that ultimately Israelis and Palestinians are going to have to agree on this," he said. "Nobody's going to impose a peace in that respect."
Whether peace talks with Abbas could resume was "up to him," Bolton said.
The Trump adviser was more forthright about Washington's trimming of funds for United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which extends aid to Palestinians displaced by the 1948 War of Independence and to millions of their descendants.
"UNRWA is a failed mechanism. It violates standard international law on the status of refugees. UNRWA's program is the only one in history based on the assumption that refugee status is hereditary, and I think it is long overdue that we have taken steps to reduce funding," Bolton said.
UNRWA and the Palestinians have warned that the cuts could exacerbate hardship in Gaza, an enclave that has been under Israeli and Egypt blockades designed to isolate its Islamist Hamas rulers. Abbas, Hamas' Palestinian rival, has also restricted funding to Gaza.
Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, sought to place the onus for Gaza's plight on Hamas, and disputed the linkage between the UNRWA budget and Palestinian wellbeing.
"Much of UNRWA's expenses really go to perpetuating the refugee status of the Palestinian people, and I think that's a mistake. I think it's a mistake from a humanitarian point of view ... a perpetuation of an unnatural status," he said.
"I think what we want to see for Palestinians is real, gainful employment," Bolton said, echoing calls by Washington and Israel for economic betterment of the West Bank and Gaza. "Unless you have functioning economies, you are never going to have social and political stability."
The Trump administration is not discussing possible US recognition of Israel's claim of sovereignty over the Golan Heights, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said.
Israel captured much of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in a move not endorsed internationally.
In May, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said that US recognition could be forthcoming within months.
"I've heard the idea being suggested but there's no discussion of it, no decision within the US government," Bolton told Reuters during a visit to Israel.
"Obviously we understand the Israeli claim that it has annexed the Golan Heights—we understand their position—but there's no change in the US position for now."
Palestinians seek other territories that Israel captured in 1967—the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem—for a future state. US-backed talks on that goal stalled in 2014.
The Trump administration has tried to restart the diplomacy but has been cold-shouldered by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since it recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital last December.
Washington has also signaled possible accommodation with Israel's West Bank settlements, dropping the term "occupied" from some US documentation about the territory. Most world powers deem the settlements illegal.
Asked whether the Trump administration envisaged Palestinian statehood as the way forward, Bolton sounded circumspect.
"I think it's been the US view for a long time that ultimately Israelis and Palestinians are going to have to agree on this," he said. "Nobody's going to impose a peace in that respect."
Whether peace talks with Abbas could resume was "up to him," Bolton said.
The Trump adviser was more forthright about Washington's trimming of funds for United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which extends aid to Palestinians displaced by the 1948 War of Independence and to millions of their descendants.
"UNRWA is a failed mechanism. It violates standard international law on the status of refugees. UNRWA's program is the only one in history based on the assumption that refugee status is hereditary, and I think it is long overdue that we have taken steps to reduce funding," Bolton said.
UNRWA and the Palestinians have warned that the cuts could exacerbate hardship in Gaza, an enclave that has been under Israeli and Egypt blockades designed to isolate its Islamist Hamas rulers. Abbas, Hamas' Palestinian rival, has also restricted funding to Gaza.
Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, sought to place the onus for Gaza's plight on Hamas, and disputed the linkage between the UNRWA budget and Palestinian wellbeing.
"Much of UNRWA's expenses really go to perpetuating the refugee status of the Palestinian people, and I think that's a mistake. I think it's a mistake from a humanitarian point of view ... a perpetuation of an unnatural status," he said.
"I think what we want to see for Palestinians is real, gainful employment," Bolton said, echoing calls by Washington and Israel for economic betterment of the West Bank and Gaza. "Unless you have functioning economies, you are never going to have social and political stability."
