US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, announced Tuesday that the US may suspend part or all of its contribution of $300 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) until Palestinians agree to resume peace talks.
“(Trump) doesn’t want to give any additional funding until the Palestinians agree to come back to the negotiation table, and what we saw with the resolution was not helpful to the situation,” Haley said at the United Nations on Tuesday.
US threatens to cut UNRWA funding unless Palestinians engage in peace talkshttps://t.co/4QtYrOwVnf
— Rhonda Ballance (@rpballance) January 2, 2018
Palestinian leaders have officially suspended talks and diplomatic relations with the United States after Donald Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel in December. The UN General Assembly condemned the United States for the action that was supported by a handful of countries and strongly rejected by the majority of member states.
In late December, Trump threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favor of the UN resolution calling for the United States to withdraw its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us. Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
JUST IN: Trump threatens to cut off aid to Palestinians: We get "no appreciation or respect" https://t.co/Es31Nt21r7 pic.twitter.com/KMSFvnoqLf
— The Hill (@thehill) January 2, 2018
Haley, in a letter to dozens of UN states last month, warned that Trump had asked her to “report back on those countries who voted against us”.
#WhenTheChipsAreDown Trump just had UN Ambassador Nicki Haley threaten the world befor a vote to support US Declarion for Jerusalem Embassy, that the USA will be taking names of countries not supporting us.
The vote was 128 to 9 against the USA.https://t.co/xlSjtPlsyi
— Spanking Man (@theSpankingMan) December 23, 2017
UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide relief to millions of Palestinian refugees after the humanitarian disaster that resulted from the creation of the state of Israel, leaving millions of Palestinians displaced until today.
Denied a human standard of living: The #Gaza blockade has entered its tenth year | UNRWA https://t.co/YXbtsRqnLb via @UNRWA
— J. Deutsch (@JasDeu) January 1, 2018
(PC, Social Media)
