4 sept 2018
By: Ramzy Baroud
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story.
Israel wants to change the rules of the game entirely. With unconditional support from the Trump Administration, Tel Aviv sees a golden opportunity to redefine what has, for decades, constituted the legal and political foundation for the so-called "Palestinian-Israeli conflict."
While US President Donald Trump's foreign policy has, thus far, been erratic and unpredictable, his administration's "vision" in Israel and Palestine is systematic and unswerving. This consistency seems to be part of a larger vision aimed at liberating the "conflict" from the confines of international law and even the old US-sponsored "peace process."
Indeed, the new strategy has, so far, targeted the status of East Jerusalem as an Occupied Palestinian city, and the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees. It aims to create a new reality in which Israel achieves its strategic goals while the rights of Palestinians are limited to mere humanitarian issues.
Unsurprisingly, Israel and the US are using the division between Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, to their advantage. Fatah dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah while Hamas controls besieged Gaza.
A carrot and a stick scenario is being applied in earnest. While, for years, Fatah received numerous financial and political perks from Washington, Hamas subsisted in isolation under a permanent siege and protracted state of war. It seems that the Trump Administration - under the auspices of Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner - are turning the tables.
The reason that the PA is no longer the "moderate" Palestinian leadership it used to be in Washington's ever self-serving agenda is that Mahmoud Abbas has decided to boycott Washington in response to the latter’s recognition of all of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. True, Abbas' subservience has been successfully tested in the past but, under the new administration, the US demands complete "respect", thus total obedience.
Hamas, which is locked in Gaza between sealed borders from every direction, has been engaging Israel indirectly through Egyptian and Qatari mediation. That engagement has, so far, resulted in a short-term truce, while a long-term truce is still being discussed.
The latest development on that front was the visit by Kushner, accompanied with Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, to Qatar on August 22. There, Gaza was the main topic on the agenda.
So, why is Gaza, which has been isolated (even by the PA itself) suddenly the new gate through which top US, Israeli and regional officials are using to reactivate Middle East diplomacy?
Ironically, Gaza is being particularly suffocated these days. The entire Gaza Strip is sinking deeper in its burgeoning humanitarian crisis, with August being one of the most grueling months.
A series of US financial aid cuts has targeted the very socio-economic infrastructure that allowed Gaza to carry on, despite extreme poverty and the ongoing economic blockade.
On August 31, Foreign Policy magazine reported that the US administration is in the process of denying the UN Palestinian refugees agency, UNRWA - which has already suffered massive US cuts since January - of all funds. Now the organization's future is in serious peril.
The worrying news came only one week after another announcement, in which the US decided to cut nearly all aid allocated to Palestinians this year – $200 million, mostly funds spent on development projects in the West Bank and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
So why would the US manufacture a major humanitarian crisis in Gaza - which suits the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu well - while, simultaneously, engaging in discussions regarding the urgent need to end Gaza’s humanitarian woes?
The answer lies in the need for the US to manipulate aid to Palestinians in order to exact political concessions for Israel’s sake.
Months before rounds of Egyptian-sponsored indirect talks began between Israel and Hamas, there has been an unmistakable shift in Israeli and U.S. attitudes regarding the future of Gaza:
On January 31, Israel presented to a high-level conference in Brussels "humanitarian assistance plans" for Gaza at a proposed cost of $1 billion. The plan focuses mostly on water distillation, electricity, gas infrastructure and upgrading the joint industrial zone at the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel. In essence, the Israeli plan is now the core discussion pertaining to the proposed long-term ceasefire.
The meeting was attended by Greenblatt, along with Kushner who is entrusted with implementing Trump's unclear vision, inappropriately termed the "Deal of the Century."
Two months later, Kushner hosted top officials from 19 countries to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Clearly, there is a common thread between all of these activities.
Since the US decided to defy international law and move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last December, it has been in search of a new strategy that will circumvent the PA in Ramallah.
PA President, Abbas, whose political apparatus is largely reliant on "security coordination" with Israel, US political validation and financial handouts, has little with which to bargain.
Hamas has relatively greater political capital – as it has operated with less dependency on the Israeli-US-western camp. But years of relentless siege, interrupted by massive deadly Israeli wars, have propelled Gaza into a permanent humanitarian crisis.
While a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian groups in Gaza went into effect on August 15, a long-term truce is still being negotiated. According to the Israeli daily "Haaretz," citing Israeli officials, the truce would include a comprehensive ceasefire, opening all border crossings, expansion of the permitted fishing area off the Gaza coast, and the overhauling of Gaza’s destroyed economic infrastructure - among other stipulations.
Concurrently, Palestinian officials in Ramallah are fuming. "Chief negotiator," Saeb Erekat, accused Hamas of trying to "destroy the Palestinian national project," by negotiating a separate agreement with Israel. The irony is that the Fatah-dominated Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and PA have done just that for over 25 years.
However, delinking the future of Gaza from the future of all Palestinians can, indeed, lead to dangerous consequences.
Regardless of whether a permanent truce is achieved between Israel and the Hamas-led Gaza factions, the sad truth is that, whatever grand illusion is harbored by Washington and Tel Aviv at the moment, is almost entirely based on exploiting Palestinian divisions, for which the Palestinian leadership is to be wholly blamed.
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story.
Israel wants to change the rules of the game entirely. With unconditional support from the Trump Administration, Tel Aviv sees a golden opportunity to redefine what has, for decades, constituted the legal and political foundation for the so-called "Palestinian-Israeli conflict."
While US President Donald Trump's foreign policy has, thus far, been erratic and unpredictable, his administration's "vision" in Israel and Palestine is systematic and unswerving. This consistency seems to be part of a larger vision aimed at liberating the "conflict" from the confines of international law and even the old US-sponsored "peace process."
Indeed, the new strategy has, so far, targeted the status of East Jerusalem as an Occupied Palestinian city, and the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees. It aims to create a new reality in which Israel achieves its strategic goals while the rights of Palestinians are limited to mere humanitarian issues.
Unsurprisingly, Israel and the US are using the division between Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, to their advantage. Fatah dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah while Hamas controls besieged Gaza.
A carrot and a stick scenario is being applied in earnest. While, for years, Fatah received numerous financial and political perks from Washington, Hamas subsisted in isolation under a permanent siege and protracted state of war. It seems that the Trump Administration - under the auspices of Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner - are turning the tables.
The reason that the PA is no longer the "moderate" Palestinian leadership it used to be in Washington's ever self-serving agenda is that Mahmoud Abbas has decided to boycott Washington in response to the latter’s recognition of all of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. True, Abbas' subservience has been successfully tested in the past but, under the new administration, the US demands complete "respect", thus total obedience.
Hamas, which is locked in Gaza between sealed borders from every direction, has been engaging Israel indirectly through Egyptian and Qatari mediation. That engagement has, so far, resulted in a short-term truce, while a long-term truce is still being discussed.
The latest development on that front was the visit by Kushner, accompanied with Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, to Qatar on August 22. There, Gaza was the main topic on the agenda.
So, why is Gaza, which has been isolated (even by the PA itself) suddenly the new gate through which top US, Israeli and regional officials are using to reactivate Middle East diplomacy?
Ironically, Gaza is being particularly suffocated these days. The entire Gaza Strip is sinking deeper in its burgeoning humanitarian crisis, with August being one of the most grueling months.
A series of US financial aid cuts has targeted the very socio-economic infrastructure that allowed Gaza to carry on, despite extreme poverty and the ongoing economic blockade.
On August 31, Foreign Policy magazine reported that the US administration is in the process of denying the UN Palestinian refugees agency, UNRWA - which has already suffered massive US cuts since January - of all funds. Now the organization's future is in serious peril.
The worrying news came only one week after another announcement, in which the US decided to cut nearly all aid allocated to Palestinians this year – $200 million, mostly funds spent on development projects in the West Bank and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
So why would the US manufacture a major humanitarian crisis in Gaza - which suits the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu well - while, simultaneously, engaging in discussions regarding the urgent need to end Gaza’s humanitarian woes?
The answer lies in the need for the US to manipulate aid to Palestinians in order to exact political concessions for Israel’s sake.
Months before rounds of Egyptian-sponsored indirect talks began between Israel and Hamas, there has been an unmistakable shift in Israeli and U.S. attitudes regarding the future of Gaza:
On January 31, Israel presented to a high-level conference in Brussels "humanitarian assistance plans" for Gaza at a proposed cost of $1 billion. The plan focuses mostly on water distillation, electricity, gas infrastructure and upgrading the joint industrial zone at the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel. In essence, the Israeli plan is now the core discussion pertaining to the proposed long-term ceasefire.
The meeting was attended by Greenblatt, along with Kushner who is entrusted with implementing Trump's unclear vision, inappropriately termed the "Deal of the Century."
Two months later, Kushner hosted top officials from 19 countries to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Clearly, there is a common thread between all of these activities.
Since the US decided to defy international law and move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last December, it has been in search of a new strategy that will circumvent the PA in Ramallah.
PA President, Abbas, whose political apparatus is largely reliant on "security coordination" with Israel, US political validation and financial handouts, has little with which to bargain.
Hamas has relatively greater political capital – as it has operated with less dependency on the Israeli-US-western camp. But years of relentless siege, interrupted by massive deadly Israeli wars, have propelled Gaza into a permanent humanitarian crisis.
While a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian groups in Gaza went into effect on August 15, a long-term truce is still being negotiated. According to the Israeli daily "Haaretz," citing Israeli officials, the truce would include a comprehensive ceasefire, opening all border crossings, expansion of the permitted fishing area off the Gaza coast, and the overhauling of Gaza’s destroyed economic infrastructure - among other stipulations.
Concurrently, Palestinian officials in Ramallah are fuming. "Chief negotiator," Saeb Erekat, accused Hamas of trying to "destroy the Palestinian national project," by negotiating a separate agreement with Israel. The irony is that the Fatah-dominated Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and PA have done just that for over 25 years.
However, delinking the future of Gaza from the future of all Palestinians can, indeed, lead to dangerous consequences.
Regardless of whether a permanent truce is achieved between Israel and the Hamas-led Gaza factions, the sad truth is that, whatever grand illusion is harbored by Washington and Tel Aviv at the moment, is almost entirely based on exploiting Palestinian divisions, for which the Palestinian leadership is to be wholly blamed.
3 sept 2018
Jordan on Sunday rejected a proposal initiated by US administration officials to establish a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation.
Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghneimat said that joining the kingdom with the West Bank, the area Palestinians want for a future state within the 1967 borders, is not a matter that is open for discussion.
During a meeting with an Israeli delegation that visited Ramallah on Sunday, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said that senior US administration officials Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt asked him recently about his opinion of a "confederation with Jordan".
"I said yes to the offer, but I want a three-way confederation with Jordan and Israel," Abbas said.
Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghneimat said that joining the kingdom with the West Bank, the area Palestinians want for a future state within the 1967 borders, is not a matter that is open for discussion.
During a meeting with an Israeli delegation that visited Ramallah on Sunday, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said that senior US administration officials Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt asked him recently about his opinion of a "confederation with Jordan".
"I said yes to the offer, but I want a three-way confederation with Jordan and Israel," Abbas said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to a peace plan on Sunday offered by the United States administration on provision that Israel would also be part of the confederation with Jordan.
Abbas said in a statement during a meeting held on Sunday with the left-wing Peace Now movement and Israeli Knesset members, that the United States Trump administration proposed a peace plan that was based on a confederation with Jordan.
However, Abbas told the US administration he would only agree to the proposal on the provision that Israel would also be part of the confederation.
The meeting was attended by the Peace Now Chairwoman, Shaked Morag, and MK’s Mossi Raz of the Meretz party and Ksenia Svetlova for the Zionist Union party.
Abbas informed the attendees that the US peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt, and Trump's senior advisor, Jared Kushner, asked if he believes in a federation with Jordan.
He added that he agreed to the proposal "I want a triangular confederation with Jordan and Israel. I asked if Israel would agree to that proposal."
He stressed that following the US decision to end all funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the US "is closing the peace process. The US wants to destroy UNRWA completely," noting that 70% of Gaza’s residents are refugees.
"Most of them live on UNRWA’s assistance. Then President Trump says 'cancel UNRWA and give humanitarian aid to Gaza.' How is it possible to abolish UNRWA on the one hand and Palestinians be given humanitarian aid on the other," he asked.
Abbas continued "I have met with Trump four times. Trump said that he supports the two-state solution and that he’s in favor of a demilitarized state with NATO forces maintaining a secure environment in the area."
He confirmed his support for Israel’s security and for finding a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.
Abbas mentioned that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to meet with him face to face, "My problem is with Netanyahu, not with the Likud. Netanyahu is against Trump’s proposal."
Morag concluded the meeting by assuring Abbas that "The Israeli peace camp is widespread and during the next general election Peace Now will demand from the leaders a commitment to advancing the two-state solution."
Abbas said in a statement during a meeting held on Sunday with the left-wing Peace Now movement and Israeli Knesset members, that the United States Trump administration proposed a peace plan that was based on a confederation with Jordan.
However, Abbas told the US administration he would only agree to the proposal on the provision that Israel would also be part of the confederation.
The meeting was attended by the Peace Now Chairwoman, Shaked Morag, and MK’s Mossi Raz of the Meretz party and Ksenia Svetlova for the Zionist Union party.
Abbas informed the attendees that the US peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt, and Trump's senior advisor, Jared Kushner, asked if he believes in a federation with Jordan.
He added that he agreed to the proposal "I want a triangular confederation with Jordan and Israel. I asked if Israel would agree to that proposal."
He stressed that following the US decision to end all funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the US "is closing the peace process. The US wants to destroy UNRWA completely," noting that 70% of Gaza’s residents are refugees.
"Most of them live on UNRWA’s assistance. Then President Trump says 'cancel UNRWA and give humanitarian aid to Gaza.' How is it possible to abolish UNRWA on the one hand and Palestinians be given humanitarian aid on the other," he asked.
Abbas continued "I have met with Trump four times. Trump said that he supports the two-state solution and that he’s in favor of a demilitarized state with NATO forces maintaining a secure environment in the area."
He confirmed his support for Israel’s security and for finding a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.
Abbas mentioned that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to meet with him face to face, "My problem is with Netanyahu, not with the Likud. Netanyahu is against Trump’s proposal."
Morag concluded the meeting by assuring Abbas that "The Israeli peace camp is widespread and during the next general election Peace Now will demand from the leaders a commitment to advancing the two-state solution."
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
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri on Wednesday said that the latest statements of the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas about his plan to establish a demilitarized Palestinian state are personal remarks that do not represent the Palestinian people.
"These statements mirror Fatah's culture which is based on normalization and coexistence with the occupation," Abu Zuhri wrote on Twitter.
According to Hebrew media sources, Abbas told a group of Israeli academics visiting Ramallah on Tuesday that he preferred devoting funds for his future state to education and institutions than to an army.
"I support a state along the 1967 borders without an army. I want unarmed police forces with batons not guns," Abbas said. "Instead of warplanes and tanks, I prefer to build schools and hospitals and allocate funds and resources to social institutions."
"These statements mirror Fatah's culture which is based on normalization and coexistence with the occupation," Abu Zuhri wrote on Twitter.
According to Hebrew media sources, Abbas told a group of Israeli academics visiting Ramallah on Tuesday that he preferred devoting funds for his future state to education and institutions than to an army.
"I support a state along the 1967 borders without an army. I want unarmed police forces with batons not guns," Abbas said. "Instead of warplanes and tanks, I prefer to build schools and hospitals and allocate funds and resources to social institutions."
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.”
Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday said he believed a future Palestinian state within the 1967 borderline should be with no armed forces.
According to the Hebrew TV channel “Kan,” Abbas told a group of visiting Israeli academics in Ramallah that he preferred devoting funds for his future state to education and institutions than to an army.
“I support a state along the 1967 borders without an army. I want unarmed police forces with batons, not guns,” Abbas said. “Instead of warplanes and tanks, I prefer to build schools and hospitals and allocate funds and resources to social institutions.”
An associate of Abbas confirmed to Kan that Abbas had made the comments, and said that his words were in line with his previously stated positions.
Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni also affirmed that Abbas had voiced support for a demilitarized Palestinian state in previous peace negotiations she held with him between 2013-2014.
According to the Hebrew TV channel “Kan,” Abbas told a group of visiting Israeli academics in Ramallah that he preferred devoting funds for his future state to education and institutions than to an army.
“I support a state along the 1967 borders without an army. I want unarmed police forces with batons, not guns,” Abbas said. “Instead of warplanes and tanks, I prefer to build schools and hospitals and allocate funds and resources to social institutions.”
An associate of Abbas confirmed to Kan that Abbas had made the comments, and said that his words were in line with his previously stated positions.
Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni also affirmed that Abbas had voiced support for a demilitarized Palestinian state in previous peace negotiations she held with him between 2013-2014.
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.
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.
25 aug 2018
The U.S. Administration of Donald Trump said it decided to cut $200 Million of the aid budget to the Palestinians, which was approved earlier this year.
Israeli daily Haaretz has reported that most of the money Trump is cutting was not meant for the Palestinian Authority, but was supposed to be used in supporting humanitarian and economic projects in the occupied territories.
Haaretz quoted a U.S. State Department official claiming that the decision is part of what he called challenges the International Community faces when it comes to providing the needed humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza, because the coastal region is “controlled by Hamas, which is also endangering them, in addition to degrading the economic and humanitarian situation.”
It is worth mentioning that, out of the previously approved $250 Million in aid to the Palestinians for this fiscal year; the U.S. Administration only released dozens of millions to support the Palestinian Security Forces in the occupied West Bank.
The decision to cut $200 Million is part of what was also described as internal review by the Trump Administration, but now, the money will instead be transferred to other countries.
Trump has been claiming that, in return to the U.S. Embassy move to occupied Jerusalem, the Palestinians will “get something good,” and that it is “their turn to be receiving something.”
It is worth mentioning that the relations between Washington and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, has been severed since Trump announced the transfer of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in direct violation of International Law.
Meanwhile, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) described the aid cut as a “cheep blackmail,” which is being used as a “political tool against the Palestinians.”
She slammed Trump and his Administration, describing them as bullies, especially since they are punishing the ordinary Palestinians, living under the illegal Israeli occupation.
Since March 30th, 2018, 171 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, in addition to 18300 who were injured.
Most of the Palestinians were killed in non-violent protests, which began on March 30th, 2018, call for ending the 12-year-long Israeli blockade of Gaza and for the right of return of the refugees.
Many of the casualties occurred on May 14, when Israeli forces attacked Palestinian protesters marking the 70th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of historical Palestine and the ensuing ethnic cleansing of half a million Palestinian refugees.
It also marked the date that the Trump chose to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, thus denying the right to exist for the nearly one million Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.
Israeli daily Haaretz has reported that most of the money Trump is cutting was not meant for the Palestinian Authority, but was supposed to be used in supporting humanitarian and economic projects in the occupied territories.
Haaretz quoted a U.S. State Department official claiming that the decision is part of what he called challenges the International Community faces when it comes to providing the needed humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza, because the coastal region is “controlled by Hamas, which is also endangering them, in addition to degrading the economic and humanitarian situation.”
It is worth mentioning that, out of the previously approved $250 Million in aid to the Palestinians for this fiscal year; the U.S. Administration only released dozens of millions to support the Palestinian Security Forces in the occupied West Bank.
The decision to cut $200 Million is part of what was also described as internal review by the Trump Administration, but now, the money will instead be transferred to other countries.
Trump has been claiming that, in return to the U.S. Embassy move to occupied Jerusalem, the Palestinians will “get something good,” and that it is “their turn to be receiving something.”
It is worth mentioning that the relations between Washington and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, has been severed since Trump announced the transfer of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in direct violation of International Law.
Meanwhile, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) described the aid cut as a “cheep blackmail,” which is being used as a “political tool against the Palestinians.”
She slammed Trump and his Administration, describing them as bullies, especially since they are punishing the ordinary Palestinians, living under the illegal Israeli occupation.
Since March 30th, 2018, 171 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, in addition to 18300 who were injured.
Most of the Palestinians were killed in non-violent protests, which began on March 30th, 2018, call for ending the 12-year-long Israeli blockade of Gaza and for the right of return of the refugees.
Many of the casualties occurred on May 14, when Israeli forces attacked Palestinian protesters marking the 70th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of historical Palestine and the ensuing ethnic cleansing of half a million Palestinian refugees.
It also marked the date that the Trump chose to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, thus denying the right to exist for the nearly one million Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.
