RAMALLAH, September 1, 2018 (News Wires) - A spokesman for the Palestinian president said on Saturday that Palestinian refugees is "an attack on the rights of the Palestinian people." President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeneh, told AP that the move would "not serve peace but rather strengthens terrorism in the region". "The US decision is a flagrant assault against Palestinian people," Abu Rudinah said. "The consecutive American decisions represent a flagrant assault against the Palestinian people and a defiance of UN resolutions. Such a punishment will not succeed to change the fact that the United States no longer has a role in the region and that it is not a part of the solution," he said according to Reuters. In a related development, UNRWA on Saturday criticised the decision, saying the agency has a record of providing high-quality essential services to those in need. "UNRWA took extraordinary internal management measures to increase efficiencies and reduce costs," the statement said. "UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl has led a rapid, innovative and tireless effort to overcome the unexpected financial crisis UNRWA has faced this year. It has expanded the donor base, raised considerable new funding, and explored new avenues of support." The US has been the largest single contributor to UNRWA, supplying nearly 30 per cent of the total budget of the agency, which provides health care, education and social services to the 5.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The statement came one day after the State Department announced that the Trump Administration will be cutting nearly $300 million in planned funding for the UN agency, ending decades of support. "The US will no longer commit further funding to this irredeemably flawed operation," the State Department said. "UNRWA has a strong record of providing high-quality education, health, and other essential services, often in extremely difficult circumstances, to Palestine refugees who are in great need. And we reject in the strongest possible terms the criticism that UNRWA's schools, health centres, and emergency assistance programmes are ‘irredeemably flawed'," UNRWA said. It argued that the World Bank has recognised the agency as "global public good," while the international community praised them for their achievements. UNRWA called on the remaining countries to help fill the financial gap, "so that UNRWA can continue to provide this vital assistance, as well as a sense of hope to this vulnerable population."
