The Trump administration cut all U.S. funding to UNRWA in September 2018 for promoting anti-Israel propaganda and perpetuating the so-called Palestinian “refugee” issue.
By JNS
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said on Monday that it has run out of funding to pay the salaries of its staff across the Middle East.
The U.N. agency for Palestinians announced that it will need $70 million by the end of the month to completely pay 28,000 staff for November and December. It called for donations in order to avoid the halt of its services.
“[I]t was with great regret that I informed our staff today that we don’t have sufficient funding at this stage to honor their salaries this month,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini in a statement. “If additional funding is not pledged in the next weeks, UNRWA will be forced to defer partial salaries to all staff.”
The Trump administration cut all U.S. funding to UNRWA in September 2018 due to criticism that the agency enables the Palestinian refugee issue and teaches anti-Israel material in its student textbooks.
Although President-elect Joe Biden is expected to restore funding, UNRWA officials said that the resumption would likely take months and would be too “late to meet the hole in the agency’s $1.4 billion annual budget,” reported Reuters.