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\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe United States has announced it will cut all funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The decision is part of a plan to liquidate as a political issue the refugee status of millions of Palestinians. The US aims to strip many of them of their refugee status and thus end the justification for UNRWA, obliging the Arab countries that host the Palestinians to \u0026lsquo;share the burden\u0026rsquo; and take care of them. Ultimately, the US wants eliminate the issue of refugee status from negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. \u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUNRWA\u0026rsquo;s final budget in 2017 was estimated at $1.14 billion, with a \u003ca href=\u0022https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/speech-unrwa-commissioner-general-pierre-kr%C3%A4henb%C3%BChl-un-general-assembly\u0022\u003ecash deficit\u003c/a\u003e amounting to $77 million. The US has, until recently, given it about $355 million a year. Beyond its disastrous impact on the Palestinian people, this reckless US policy will probably see the Arab world asked to compensate for the financial losses caused by UNRWA cuts and substantiate its solidarity with the Palestinians. Gulf states may also face pressure to increase support for UNRWA and Arab nations that have been hosting the refugees for decades. \u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat is UNRWA \u0026ndash; and why has demand for its help grown?\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUNRWA was created in 1949 to help and protect the rights of Palestine refugees, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. UNRWA has \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ca href=\u0022https://www.unrwa.org/palestine-refugees\u0022\u003e\u003cspan\u003egranted\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e refugee status to \u0026lsquo;persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict\u0026rsquo;. Breaking with the normal standards of international humanitarian law, the refugee status is also offered to their descendants.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe agency was launched in 1950 to meet the needs of about 750,000 Palestinian refugees. Today, some \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ca href=\u0022https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/west-bank\u0022\u003e\u003cspan\u003e5 million\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e are eligible for UNRWA services\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: 810,000 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, 1.3 million in the Gaza Strip, 2.2 million in Jordan, 450,000 in Lebanon and 527,000 in Syria. \u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","className":"richtext reading--content font-secondary"}), document.getElementById("react_XrqSwNCf3EWrLxmH5DIPxw"))});
The Trump administration is set to pull funding worth hundreds of millions of dollars from the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees.
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