US envoy blasts Arab, Islamic states over Palestinian aid

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US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has blasted Arab and Islamic nations for not giving more aid to the Palestinians.

Haley cited countries like Egypt, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, saying they talked a lot about supporting the Palestinians but were not giving more money to help.

Haley listed how much those countries, along with Algeria, Tunisia, Pakistan, Oman, Iran and Turkey, had given – or not given – to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which helps Palestinian refugees. Washington, long the biggest donor, cut its aid to 60 million US dollars from a promised 365 million dollars this year.

"No group of countries is more generous with their words than the Palestinians’ Arab neighbors, and other OIC member states," Haley told a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East, citing the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley (standing, front) attends a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East at United Nations Headquarters, July 24, 2018. /VCG Photo

"But all of the words spoken here in New York do not feed, clothe, or educate a single Palestinian child. All they do is get the international community riled up,” she said.

Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour said Haley had insulted US allies “in an arrogant way.”

Haley said it was time for the “regional states, in particular, to step up.”

According to IRIN, a nonprofit that reports on humanitarian issues, the UAE and Kuwait were ranked in the top five most generous aid donors compared with national income globally in 2017, while the United States came in at 16.

“Sometimes the numbers and facts talk for themselves,” said Kuwait’s UN Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley /VCG Photo

The UAE UN Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh agreed with Haley that real action was needed to assist the Palestinian people.

“With our total donation of more than 125 million US dollars just last year, we believe that we are doing our part to address the immediate needs of the Palestinians,” she said.

US President Donald Trump withheld UNRWA aid after questioning its value and saying the Palestinians needed to agree to renew peace talks with Israel, while the State Department said UNRWA needed to make unspecified reforms.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser, said late last month that Washington would announce its Middle East peace plan soon.

“It is now gone about a year since we discussed this here and we were informed about plans and we haven’t seen it yet," Sweden’s UN Ambassador Olof Skoog, president of the Security Council for July, told reporters. “I think there is a problem that there’s no credible plan on the table.”

Source(s): Reuters