Israeli PM calls for closure of Palestinian UN aid agency

JERUSALEM (AFP): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called for the closure of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, days after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut Palestinian aid, as well as NGOs funded by foreign governments

Israel has long viewed the UN agency, known as UNRWA, as biased against it — an allegation the agency strongly denies, saying it is only providing necessary services to Palestinians.

Netanyahu said the organization “perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem” and the “right of return narrative, in order to eliminate the state of Israel.”

The US is the largest donor to UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees. Ending the American aid could precipitate a humanitarian crisis, particularly in the impoverished Gaza Strip, where the majority of residents are eligible for UNRWA’s support. Israel could find itself footing the bill.

Netanyahu said that while millions of other refugees around the world were cared for by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Palestinians have their own body which also treats “great-grandchildren of refugees — who aren’t refugees”.

“This absurd situation must be ended,” Netanyahu added.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said that its mandate came from the UN General Assembly “whose members give wide and strong support to the agency’s humanitarian and human development mission”.

“What perpetuates the refugee crisis is the failure of the parties to deal with the issue,” he wrote in a statement.

“This needs to be resolved by the parties to the conflict in the context of peace talks, based on UN resolutions and int ernational law.”

In June, Netanyahu said he had raised the issue with Washington’s UN envoy Nikki Haley.

On Wednesday, Trump threatened to cut aid worth more than $300 million annually to the Palestinians in a bid to force them to negotiate.

The United States has long provided the Palestinian Authority with much-needed budgetary support and security assistance, as well as an additional $304 million for UN programmes in the West Bank and Gaza.