[Elder of Ziyon] US gives $123 million to UNRWA

From UNRWA's website:

The United States announced a new contribution of US$123 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which will enable the Agency to continue its work serving a population of some five million registered Palestine refugees in the region. This latest donation brings the total U.S. contribution to UNRWA in 2013 to US$ 244.5 million.

US$ 75 million will go towards the General Fund, which supports core activities in education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement and microfinance.

"On behalf of UNRWA, I would like to thank the United States for this generous contribution today. The U.S. has assisted the Agency for several decades as a major bilateral donor. Its commitment to Palestine refugees is crucial to maintaining regional stability and supporting health, education and other programmes that UNRWA offers to this disadvantaged community. Despite the difficult economic situation worldwide, the U.S. has proven once again that it is dedicated to the development of Palestine refugee potential," said UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi.

The donation from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration includes an additional US$ 37 million earmarked for the Agency's Emergency Appeal in Gaza and the West Bank, US$ 10 million for the construction and equipment of three schools and two health centres in Gaza and US$ 1 million for relief work in Nahr el-Bared camp in Lebanon.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Clements reaffirmed the United States support for UNRWA services, saying: "The United States has been proud to work with UNRWA for many years. We remain committed to supporting their efforts to help Palestinian refugees receive the services that they need."

Yes, the US has donated money to the only refugee agency on Earth that guarantees that next year there will be more "refugees" than there were this year.

And until the US pressures UNRWA to adopt a cessation clause in line with the UNHCR's, where citizens of a country (Jordan) are not eligible for UNRWA services and where descendants do not automatically receive refugee status, and where people who live in the boundaries of British Mandate Palestine would no longer be considered "refugees," American taxpayers will continue to pay for this useless, bloated organization whose sole purpose nowadays is to expand the "refugee" problem, not to eliminate it.

(By way of contrast , in 2012, the total cash donated to UNRWA by all Arab states was less than $16M, of which Saudi Arabia gave $12M.)

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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder of Ziyon at 6/19/2013 03:00:00 PM