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Jordan says US move to halt UNRWA funding fuels radicalism

September 2, 2018 at 11:54 am

School children in an UNRWA institute fly kites carrying the hashtag ‘dignity is priceless’ to highlight the dire situation in Gaza [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Jordan said on Saturday it regretted a US decision to halt funding to a United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, saying that jeopardising the fate of an agency that helps millions of refugees would only fuel radicalism and harm prospects of Middle East peace.

Foreign Minster Ayman Safadi told Reuters his country which hosts over 2 million registered refugees would continue to rally donor support to ease the acute financial crunch faced by the agency.

The US announced on Friday that it will no longer support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Earlier this year the United States, long its biggest donor, had slashed funding.

Meanwhile, a senior Israeli minister said on Saturday that the US decision to cut funding for UNRWA is a “realistic view of the situation and supports Israel’s position”.

“I praise the decision of the president of the United States to halt all funding of UNRWA – the body that enshrines the Palestinian refugee problem,” Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz wrote on Twitter.