Advocates say growing bipartisan support for curbs to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is ‘concerning’ and ‘reckless’.
A United States security bill that would curtail funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees is raising alarm, as rights advocates say a years-long effort to dismantle the agency is gaining steam amid Israel’s war on Gaza.
The proposed $118bn legislation, a draft of which was released by the US Senate on Sunday (PDF), includes a provision prohibiting Washington from allocating any funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Seth Binder, advocacy director at the Middle East Democracy Center, said this would apply to humanitarian assistance included in the bill as well as any previously approved funds for UNRWA that have not yet been allocated, a sum totalling about $300,000.
“It’s unclear … where and how this specific provision may become law, if it ever is able to,” Binder told media. “But it is concerning nonetheless just given recent developments.”
UNRWA came under renewed scrutiny last month after the Israeli government accused around a dozen of the agency’s more than 13,000 Gaza employees of taking part in Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed a reported 1,139 people.
UNRWA immediately sacked the employees in question and announced that it was opening a probe into the allegations, which it described as “shocking” and “serious”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also has appointed an independent panel to investigate.
“We’re seeing a pretty quick departure from what used to be a split down party lines,” he told media. “It’s reckless, and ultimately I think history is going to see [the US] as being completely complicit in what is unquestionably an incredibly tragic and dire situation.”
Mayer-Rich, the centre’s liaison for US government affairs, added that “the conversation in part is guided by the Biden administration”.
“We’ve seen, at this point, an endorsement by the highest level of office that it’s OK for Democrats to call into question UNRWA’s mandate, to call into question the necessity of its mission, which has long been a Republican-guided effort,” he said.
“This is a message that will have a durable impact on the way that Democrats are talking about UNRWA and the necessary services it provides.”
Indeed, current attempts in the US to defund UNRWA come at a critical time.
‘A huge hole’
The agency is leading humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza, where Israel’s military bombardment has killed more than 27,708 Palestinians and caused wide-scale destruction since October 7.
Palestinians in the besieged enclave also face dire food, water and medical shortages. The local healthcare system is near total collapse, and more than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced. Many families have sought shelter at UNRWA-run facilities.
“If this proposal were to become law, that’s a huge hole that would have to be filled,” Deere told media in an email, referring to the Senate bill.
If this proposal were to become law that’s a huge hole that would have to be filled,” Deere told media in an email, referring to the Senate bill.
The legislation, which includes more than $14bn in additional US security assistance to Israel, has the backing of the White House, but it is unlikely to reach Biden’s desk to be signed into law. Top Republicans have said it will be “dead on arrival” if it reaches the House of Representatives, amid calls for stricter immigration measures.
Still, Deere — who described the atmosphere in Washington as a “challenging policy environment” — said the bill “demonstrates that we need to keep discussing with lawmakers the fact that UNRWA and the UN have acted swiftly and decisively in the wake of the recent news”.
He also warned that the agency “will have a very hard time operating beyond March 1st if donor states do not resume their support” and stressed that UNRWA operates beyond Gaza alone.
“Hundreds of thousands of Palestine refugees in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan will lose access to primary healthcare, direct food support, rental assistance, and education,” Deere said. “Human decency aside, such an occurrence also poses a regional stability issue.”
But despite those warnings, Republicans have seized on the accusations against UNRWA to reinvigorate a years-long effort to stymie the agency. “This is something that they’ve long been trying to do, and they’ve really seized the moment,” said Mayer-Rich.
At least seven pieces of legislation aimed at defunding or disbanding UNRWA have been introduced by the Republicans in Congress since Israel’s allegations were made public, according to a tally by the Arab Center Washington DC.
Republican legislators held a subcommittee hearing last week titled, “UNRWA Exposed: Examining the Agency’s Mission and Failures”.
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