UNRWA under attack... who is next? Another step has been taken by the Trump administration on its road to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to transfer the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The latest step is meant to punish the Palestinians, who rejected the Jerusalem move and withdrew from the peace negotiations sponsored and directed by the United States. “We pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” President Trump wrote on Twitter on 2 January 2018. “With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace,” he added, “why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?” That same day when US representative to the UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was asked about UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), she said: “He [Trump] does not want to give any additional funding, or stop funding, until the Palestinians are agreeing to come back to the negotiation table.” An amount of 125 million dollars of US aid to UNRWA that was to be delivered on 1 January was put on hold. The suspension or freezing of this amount of aid was described – and justified – as a temporary step in the process of reviewing the entire US funding of UNRWA.
It was reported that many meetings were held recently to discuss the case. In addition, Haley and Trump have talked several times about this issue. “The president is fed up with this phenomena of trashing the United States at the UN and then asking us for money. Ambassador Haley shares that view,” a senior administration official told Washington Post's Josh Rogin, adding: “The process going forward is how to translate that presidential directive into actual policy.” Speculations were varied about the size of the cut. The annual American contribution to UNRWA is more than 360 million dollars. And the annual budget of the organisation reaches 1.25 billion dollars. It was reported that discussions about the future of this aid include the impact that the cut may have on more than five million Palestinian refugees, and that Jordan expressed concerns about repercussions of such a step. Also discussed were alternative donors, such as Saudi Arabia, to compensate what will be lost because of US withdrawal from her decades-long commitment. The critics of UNRWA – and, it seems, of whatever is related to Palestinians – were beating their drums over the last two weeks warning of UNRWA's role and mission, and criticising what was and is going on in the name of relief to Palestinian refugees.
Daniel Pipes of Middle East Forum argued that “99 per cent of ‘Palestinian refugees' are fake.” Alex Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, co-authors of Religion, Politics and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on 10 January: “By confronting the problem of UNRWA, the Trump administration has the rare opportunity to disrupt dysfunctional patterns that are long entrenched and fantastically expensive. It also has the opportunity to confront the Palestinian Authority with a choice: If it wishes to be regarded as a state, then it must assume its responsibilities and act like a state.” It seems that many at the both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue agreed with this concept and this approach. Shalom Pence...from DC to Jerusalem “It was more than 20 years that one administration after another, and one congress after another recognised that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, but no American president would step forward and make that decision a reality. President Trump had the courage of his convictions to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.” Vice-President Mike Pence said those words to Fox News' Martha MacCallum in an interview before heading to the region, adding: “It will be my great honour as vice-president to visit and affirm that decision.”
Pence's more than once postponed visit will start with Egypt, 20 January; then he will go to Jordan, 21 January, before arriving in Israel, 22-23 January. In the same interview, he stated: “And what I'll tell President Al-Sisi and King Abdullah and other leaders in the region is that we remain committed to peace. But what the president did in making that decision and in making it a reality was he essentially took off of the table an issue that really wasn't negotiable to this administration or to the American people. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.” Pence added: “The president said that we have recognised the obvious. We have affirmed the will of the American people. But now our hope is that we can move forward and begin to discuss those issues that can be negotiated in the hopes of achieving a lasting peace.” The vice-president was also asked in the TV interview about the steps taken for moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He said, “The planning is underway. As you're well aware, we have a consulate in Jerusalem today, but as the president said, it would be necessary for us to make planning to choose a location and to develop a structure.” And when Martha MacCallum asked about a “target date,” Pence replied: “I think it will probably be several years before we cut the ribbon, but the decision is made. We're moving our embassy to the capital of Israel. It will be my great honour as vice-president to visit Israel's capital later this month.” Indeed, with Pence's coming tour in the region we will have the chance to witness how he will be ‘welcomed' – what he will say and announce in Cairo and Amman, and what he will praise and promise in Israel, where he will give a speech to the Knesset. Shalom Khaver.
