The U.N. agency that serves Palestinian refugees and their descendants said Wednesday it would launch a global fundraising appeal in hopes of making up for funding cuts announced by the United States.
The Trump administration on Tuesday suspended $65 million in aid funds for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, demanding its operations undergo a "fundamental re-examination."
The U.S. provides roughly one-third of UNRWA's budget, and the agency has warned that it now faces the "most dramatic financial crisis" in its nearly 70-year history. The agency provides healthcare, education and social services to 5 million Palestinians across the Middle East.
UNRWA Director Pierre Krahenbuhl said the fundraising appeal would begin in the coming days. The agency said it is too soon to say which countries will be approached to fill the void or what services are at risk.
"At stake is the dignity and human security of millions of Palestine refugees, in need of emergency food assistance and other support in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip," he said in a statement.
Krahenbuhl said 525,000 boys and girls in 700 UNRWA schools could be affected by the cuts, as well as Palestinian access to primary healthcare, but he pledged to keep facilities open through 2018 and beyond.
"The reduced contribution also impacts regional security at a time when the Middle East faces multiple risks and threats, notably that of further radicalization," he said.
Belgium has already stepped in to help, with an immediate disbursement of $23 million.
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Wednesday that "for a lot of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA is the last life buoy."
De Croo said he was responding to the global fundraising appeal in hopes of making up for funding cuts announced by the United States. The 19 million euros is Belgium's allocation for three years, but De Croo's office said it would be "disbursed immediately."
The Palestinian Authority, already angered by U.S. President Donald Trump's Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, denounced the decision, as "blackmail."
"Any reduction of U.S. aid to UNRWA will not succeed in imposing the American positions, which are biased in favor of the occupation [Israel]," the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called for a gradual cut in UNRWA funding and transferring its responsibilities to the U.N. global refugee agency, voiced measured support for the U.S. step, but he appeared to acknowledge it could leave Israel with a potential humanitarian crisis on its doorstep.
Netanyahu has proposed the gradual dismantling of UNRWA, arguing it "perpetuates the Palestinian problem," and moving funds to the UNHCR agency.
Netanyahu, who is on a state visit to India, said Wednesday that he supports the U.S. funding cut, "but I still suggest, because I think there are certain needs, to do what I have said ... every step taken also contains some risk."
