United States Admits UNRWA's Role Is Not Replaced, But Suspension Of Funding Can Be Permanent

UNRWA service in the Gaza Strip. (Twitter/@UNRWA)

JAKARTA - United States officials are preparing a funding hiatus for the UN's main aid agency for Palestinians to become permanent due to a refusal in Congress, although President Joe Biden's administration insists the aid group's humanitarian work is indispensable.

The United States, which is UNRWA's largest donor, provides $300-400 million per year, saying it wants to see the results of the investigation and the steps improvements taken before they consider continuing funding.

Even if the pause is lifted, only about 300,000 US dollars remain from the allocated funds, which will be disbursed to UNRWA. More than that, it will require congressional approval.

The bipartisan refusal at Congress to fund UNRWA made it impossible for the United States to resume routine donations in the near future, although countries such as Sweden and Canada have stated they will continue their contribution to UNRWA.

An additional funding bill at the US Congress that includes military aid to Israel and Ukraine and is backed by President Biden's Administration, contains provisions that would deter UNRWA from accepting funds if the draft was passed.

US officials said they recognized the "important role" played by UNRWA in distributing aid in densely populated enclaves and nearly starving from Israeli attacks in the past five months.

"We have to plan the fact that Congress may make the pause permanent," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Washington has been working with humanitarian partners on the ground, such as UNICEF and the World Food Program (WFP), to continue providing assistance.

But officials realized that UNRWA was difficult to replace.

"There are other organizations that now provide some aid distribution within Gaza, but UNRWA's main role cannot be replaced by other organizations because of their longstanding work and distribution networks as well as their history within Gaza," Miller said.

Meanwhile William Deere, director of the UNRWA Representative Office in Washington, told Reuters that US support reached a third of UNRWA's budget.

"It will be very difficult to replace," he said.

"Please remember that UNRWA is more than just Gaza. This is a health service, education and social services. This is East Jerusalem, West Bank, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon," he explained.

Several Senate members of the Democratic Party, including Senator Chris Van Hollen, along with several progressive members of the House of Representatives, have opposed an indefinite ban on funding for UNRWA.

However, any new funding will require support from at least some Republicans, who hold the majority in the House of Representatives. Many have expressed their rejection of UNRWA.

"UNRWA is a cover, clear and simple," Republican member Brian Mast, chairman of the House's Sub-Committee on Foreign Affairs for Supervision and Accountability, said in a statement.

"This agency disguises itself as an aid organization while building infrastructure to support Hamas. It literally distributes American tax money to terrorism," said Mast.

The United States, along with more than a dozen countries, suspended its funding for the United Nations Aid and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in January, after Israel accused 12 of its 13,000 agency employees in Gaza, of participating in Hamas attacks on Israel's southern region on October 7.

The United Nations has launched an investigation into the allegations, while UNRWA sacked several staff after Israel provided information about the allegations to the agency.

UNRWA was founded in 1949 through a UN General Assembly resolution, after a war that broke out after the founding of Israel, when 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes.

Currently, UNRWA directly employs 30,000 Palestinians, serving the civilian and humanitarian needs of the 5.9 million descendants of refugees, in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and in large camps in adjacent Arab countries.

In Gaza, UNRWA manages schools in the enclave, primary health clinics, and other social services, as well as distributing humanitarian aid.