Israel and the United Arab Emirates are working together to terminate the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees, French daily Le Monde reported over the weekend.
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The two nations, which inked a historic peace deal in September, are now reaping the benefits of the accord, including trade and tourism, as well as increased influence on the international arena.
Jerusalem has long regarded the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as an impediment to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, maintaining it perpetuates a biased narrative of the conflict and, in fact, engages in incitement.
UNWRA, left severely crippled in 2018 after the administration of US President Donald Trump decided to cut funding to the organization, is facing the "worst financial crisis in its history" amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to its Washington DC manager Elizabeth Campbell.
After the US decision to pull the funding, the UNRWA has relied on oil-rich Gulf kingdoms, including the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to plug the budgetary hole; yet, according to Le Monde, the UAE has not transferred any funds yet this year, in spite of the worsening crisis.
According to the report, Emirati officials are considering to let the agency to "gradually disappear."
UNRWA did not return i24NEWS' request for comment.
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Earlier this month, Nikki Haley, the former US envoy to the UN, urged Trump to declassify the number of Palestinian refugees enrolled in UNRWA.
"This is about truth, and about the fact that the entire world assumes that there are millions of people that are considered refugees according to UNRWA, yet they will never talk about the facts," she was quoted as saying.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
