The United States has frozen $125 million of its funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
Quoting three US officials Reuters news agency reported that the administration of the US president Donald Trump informed the United Nations that it had frozen a $125 million grant that was due to be paid on 1st January.
According to the three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter Trump’s administration is considering cutting $180 million from its aid payments to the UNRWA in an effort to pressure the Palestinian Authority to resume negotiations with Israel.
For its part the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the fierce US-Israeli campaign waged against the UNRWA and slammed the recent statement by Israel’s minister of public security Gilad Erdan in which he called for dismantling the Agency.
The Palestinian Ministry said in a statement on Friday evening that the right-wing party in Israel led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking advantage of the US biased support of Israel which involved recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital to launch more expansionist settlement projects in the Palestinian territories.
The Ministry continued that this US-Israeli alliance aims to settle the core issues of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict including Jerusalem refugees and borders unilaterally in a dramatic transition to a stage of imposing non-negotiable solutions on the Palestinian side.
It called on the international community and the UN organizations to carry out their duty to maintain international peace and stability and to put an end to the US-Israeli arrogance targeting the peace process.
