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AFP
Jerusalem
The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinians said Friday the US decision to freeze tens of millions of dollars in aid resulted from diplomatic disputes rather than the agency's performance.
The US State Department this week put on hold two planned payments of more than $100 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
The State Department denied the freeze was to punish the Palestinian leadership, which has cut ties with President Donald Trump's administration following his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, with a spokeswoman saying it was linked to necessary"reform"of UNRWA.
But Pierre Krahenbuhl, the agency's commissioner general, said they had not been informed by the United States of any new reform demands and were"caught up"in the political dispute.
"I have to look at this as not related to our performance but a decision and a debate that was caught up in the aftermath of what of course was the General Assembly resolution on Jerusalem and other matters,"Krahenbuhl said in an interview in Jerusalem."My perception is there is a debate in the US administration about funding to the Palestinians and our funding got caught up in that."
The US gave around $700 million in support to the Palestinians last year, of which about half went to UNRWA, which has a non-political mandate to provide schooling, health care and other services to more than three million Palestinians across the Middle East.
Israel and some American politicians accuse the agency of bias, with Israeli leaders saying its existence perpetuates the conflict. Trump's December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital angered the Palestinians, who see the eastern part of the city as the capital of their future state. President Mahmud Abbas has said the US under Trump can no longer be mediator in peace talks with Israel.
The United Nations General Assembly voted to condemn the US decision on Jerusalem.
Trump had been pushing to restart peace talks, but on January 2 he tweeted that the US gives the Palestinians"HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS"and gets"no appreciation or respect".
"With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?"On Tuesday, his administration suspended $65 million to UNRWA, followed Thursday by putting on hold another $45 million in food aid destined for the agency.
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20/01/2018
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