Palestinian Liberation Organization slammed on Saturday US decision to cut all funding to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
“We condemn the resolution and refuse it. The Americans cannot shut down UNRWA because the decision to establish the agency was accepted by the General Assembly,” PLO Executive Secretary General Saeb Erekat said.
“The US cannot congratulate the theft of Palestinian lands, stealing Jerusalem and handing it to Israel, and it cannot act according to the whims of Sheldon Adelson and Benjamin Netanyahu,” Erekat added.
For his part, Palestinian Authority Chief, Mahmoud Abbbas, described the US decision as “flagrant assault” against Palestinian people.
“The consecutive American decisions represent a flagrant assault against the Palestinian people and a defiance of UN resolutions,” spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah told Reuters. “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,” Abbas spokesman said, according to media reports.
On the other hand, the Zionist entity welcomed the US move, accusing the agency which supports some five million Palestinians of “perpetuating” the Middle East conflict.
“Israel supports the US move,” an official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on condition of anonymity.
“Consolidating the refugee status of Palestinians is one of the problems that perpetuates the conflict.”
Earlier on Friday, US State Department announced that Donald Trump administration has cut all funding to the UNRWA, saying: “The United States will no longer commit further funding to this irredeemably flawed operation.”
The move was previewed by US media outlets in recent weeks after e-mails from President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were leaked showing his interest in “disrupting” the UN body.
Last week, UNRWA’s head Pierre Kraehenbuehl, suggested that the United States slashed its budget to punish the Palestinians for their criticism of the American recognition of Al-Quds as the Israeli capital, but he warned that the Palestinian refugee issue will not go away.
Source: Agencies
