UN won’t increase Palestinian refugee budget after Israeli diplomatic efforts
The United Nations’ Administrative and Budgetary Committee has rejected a request to increase funding for the world body’s Palestinian refugee relief agency for the 2018-2019 timeframe.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Dec. 21. Credit: U.N. Photo/Manuel Elias.
The Group of 77—a 77-member coalition of developing nations, of which the Palestinian Authority is a member—submitted a request to increase the budget for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by around $5 million. The bloc also asked for four additional slots for Palestinian representatives at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UCTAD).
According to its website, UCTAD’s Assistance to the Palestinian People Unit has a “specific mandate to monitor and investigate the social and economic impact of policies of the Israeli occupation authorities in the Palestinian territory.” The unit’s annual report routinely accuses Israel of harming the Palestinian economy, undermining Palestinian development, and violating international law and U.N. resolutions.
Following diplomatic efforts by the Israeli delegation to the U.N., spearheaded by Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon, the budgetary committee declined the Palestinians’ requests to increase UNRWA’s budget as well as the number of Palestinian UCTAD slots when it authorised the international body’s budget last week.
“It is inconceivable for the U.N. budget and the funds of countries intended for humanitarian assistance and development to be diverted toward incitement and be turned into a political battering ram,” Danon said.
Israel Hayom exclusive to JNS.org
Really? I wonder how they are going to give it to terrorist groups under the counter. And, what about those in Muslim controlled countries who are actually refused the right to be part of that country. And, even more importantly, they aren’t refugees so why are they receiving any money at all?