The United States says it is ending all its funding to the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees. The State Department referred to what it called the "business model" of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), saying this made it an "irredeemably flawed operation."
A State Department spokesperson claimed the decision had been made after carefully reviewed the issue.
The UNRWA called the Trump administration's decision "shocking." "This is a deeply regrettable decision because millions of people, some of the most disadvantaged and marginalized on this planet, may well suffer," said the agency's spokesperson Chris Gunness.
Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, speaks to journalists on September 1, 2018. /VCG Photo.
The UNRWA supports over five million registered Palestinian refugees, providing health care, education and social services. It was initially set up to help Palestinians displaced in the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict.
CGTN's reporter Stephanie Freid in Tel Aviv said the response from the Arab world and countries that host Palestinian refugees are strong. "Inhuman," "reckless" and "dangerous" is the rhetoric used to describe the US latest announcement, she said.
However, Israel is in favor of the US cut, because it points to a political move and ultimately peace negotiations.
On the other hand, Stephanie said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu one month ago hearing the US could end aid to the UNRWA said the move could lead to further destabilization and it could strengthen Hamas.
Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi, the dean of the Faculty of World Studies at the University of Tehran, said what the US is doing is supporting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policy. It also wants the Palestinian refugees no longer to be considered as refugees and to be absorbed by neighboring countries.
A spokesperson for Palestinian president said the "United States no longer has a role in the region." Professor Marandi agrees that the US position in the region is weaker because it has lost confidence among Palestinians.
In addition, the US allies in the region are isolated. He said the general trend is not good for Trump's allies and the United States.
The US has been the largest single donor to the UNRWA. Other big donors include the EU, Saudi Arabia, Germany and the UK. Germany says it will now increase its contributions.
(Cover: Palestinian refugees receive medical check-ups and aid from the UNRWA mobile team on the outskirts of the southern West Bank city of Hebron on August 9, 2018./VCG Photo.)