Labor says don’t cut UNRWA aid

February 1, 2018 by J-Wire Staff
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QLD Labor Senator Claire Moore has issued a statement saying Australia should maintain essential services for Palestinian refugees.

Senator Claire Moore

The Shadow Minister for international development and the Pacific’s statement says: “Labor is concerned that a halt in US funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) will  have a severe impact on essential services.

Over the past 70 years the UNRWA has assisted the more than 5 million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, and elsewhere in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The Agency provides schooling to 500,000 impoverished children in the refugee camps, supplies healthcare to millions who could not otherwise afford treatment, and food aid to almost a million living in poverty in Gaza.

The US, the largest donor to UNRWA, has frozen payments worth more than $US100 million. This represents a cut of around one-third of its contributions for this year.

In response to an unprecedented reduction in US funding, the UNRWA is calling on the international community to increase contributions.

Australia has a long-standing history of funding UNRWA programs. In 2016 we ranked 16th in size of pledges made to UNRWA, totalling US$15 million. Belgium and Netherlands, who made similar pledges to us, have already agreed to increase their contributions.

UNRWA is concerned that without guarantees of global support, it won’t be possible to keep children at school, clinics open and have vital food distribution happen.

Labor believes it is important that we work to maintain essential services for Palestinian refugees, and continue to actively engage in discussions around real peace in the region.

Senator Moore told J-Wire: “While the full impact is not yet known there are real concerns about the loss of services and support for people already deeply traumatised.”

 

Comments

5 Responses to “Labor says don’t cut UNRWA aid”
  1. Rafi Plotkin says:

    The lady suffers from carpal tunnel vision as the UN Aid goes underground

  2. leon Poddebsky says:

    If the kind lady is so concerned about the deeply traumatised people of the Gaza Strip, perhaps she could at least convince her Australian Labour Party to work for the removal of the cause of the traumatisation, namely those people’s unremitting war against Jewish human rights.
    That would, of course, run counter to her party’s de facto collaboration with the aggressors.

  3. Leon Poddebsky says:

    There are only about 20,000 Arab “Palestinian” refugees from the “Palestinian” and other Arab-declared war of 1947-49.
    The remainder of the “Palestinian” Arabs who are erroneously called “refugees”, are in actual fact non-refugee welfare recipients who serve several functions: 1. the “Arab world” exploits them in its ongoing attempt to harm Israeli Jews.
    2. to assist in sustaining the foreign aid industry 3. to ingratiate Western political parties with local sympathisers of the Arab war against the Jews.
    Thus the “enlightened” nations knowingly perpetuate a situation where “Palestinian” Arabs in large numbers are callously prevented from entering a normal productive
    way of life.
    Not exactly consistent with “socialist” / ALP dogma, eh?

  4. Gillian Miller says:

    How much money do some 6,000 people need? UNWRA is illegally expressing the idea that all Palestinians are refugees whereas all other genuine refugees, including Jewish ones, their children belong to the country in which they are born. However, these Muslim controlled countries will not allow them to become citizens so they are stateless, illegal according the UN but then as Muslims control the UN it must be so.

  5. Roy Sims says:

    The cut in contributions to UNRWA
    “will have a severe impact on essential services.”
    “Over the past 70 years the UNRWA has assisted the more than 5 million Palestinian refugees”
    “Labor believes it is important that we work to maintain essential services for Palestinian refugees, and continue to actively engage in discussions around real peace in the region.”
    What planet does this lady live on?
    The “refugees” of the 1948 ‘War of Independence” were roughly equal. 600,000 Arabs who were told to leave their homes “TEMPORARILY” while the Arab nations got rid of the JEWS. And 600,000 Jews who were FORCIBLY expelled from neighbouring Arab countries.
    ALL the Jewish refugees have been absorbed into a compassionate Jewish State.
    ALL (or a vast majority) of the Arab refugees have been used as political pawns in the Arab game of “poor me victim”. A very tiny minority have been offered homes in the original Palestinian State (Jordan) or any other Arab country.
    Vast sums of money donated by well meaning nations to UNRWA has been used to build ‘terror tunnels’ and to compensate families of murderers of Jewish people.
    To quote the lady, Labour (but I doubt that includes all of them) wants Australia to continue to send millions of dollars into this sham situation.
    Shame lady, shame that you do not acquaint yourself with verifiable fact of waste before you advocate pouring good money after bad.

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