UN agency says lacks funds to pay full Palestinian salaries

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) "never recovered" from the total funding cut imposed by President Donald Trump in 2018, agency spokeswoman Tamara Alrifai told AFP. 

Before Trump's cuts the US had been providing UNRWA $300 a year, roughly a third of its core annual budget.

Alrifai said 2019 shortfalls were filled by additional support from several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. 

Both the European Union and individual European states, notably Germany, also helped close the gap, she said. 

This year, "financial support waned," Alrifai added, noting that the coronavirus pandemic "didn't help", as key donors faced increased domestic financial pressures.

"The agency needs to raise US$70 million by the end of the month if it is to pay full salaries for the months of November and December," an UNRWA statement said. 

The funding shortfall affects 28,000 staffers, spread across Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza.

Only those whose work is covered by special emergency budgets could be spared, Alrifai said. 

Israel had been critical of UNRWA before Trump's election, arguing its presence was no longer necessary decades after the conflict following Israel's creation in 1948 that created some 750,000 Palestinian refugees. 

The Jewish state has also criticised rules under which Palestinians can hand down refugee status to their children.

After taking office in 2017, the staunchly pro-Israel Trump administration began echoing Israeli criticism of the agency before cutting funds the following year. 

On the possible impact of Biden's election win, Alrifai said UNRWA was "very optimistic the US will resume its support".

Asked if the agency had received specific commitments from the incoming administration, she said: "We have engaged very close with the Biden campaign team and they do understand the uniqueness of UNRWA for the stability of the region."

Biden's 2020 campaign website said he would restore "humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people" but did not directly mention UNRWA.

The agency's core annual budget for 2020 stood at $806 million, with an additional $300 million for emergency programmes, including the coronavirus response and Palestinians caught up in Syria's conflict. 

Founded in 1949, UNRWA runs schools and provides health services as well as other humanitarian aid to an estimated 5.7 million Palestinians with refugee status. 

Agencies contributed to this report.

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