Schools for Palestinian Refugees to Open as Scheduled Despite US Funding Cuts - UN Agency

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2018) The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Thursday that its schools for Palestinian refugees in the middle East will open this year as scheduled, despite the fact that the United States had cut its funding for the agency.

The US Department of State announced in January that it would be withholding $65 million out of the total $125 million in financial aid allocated for the UNRWA.

"The school-year for 526,000 Palestine refugee girls and boys will open on time in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria," UNRWA said in a press release, citing Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl.

According to Krahenbuhl, pupils and teachers would be able to return to 711 schools on time. The official further noted the importance of protecting "the fundamental right to education for Palestine refugee girls and boys.

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However, an additional $217 million was required to ensure that schools worked until the end of the year, the commissioner specified.

"I wish to pay tribute to all our partners, both hosts and the donors who stepped forward at this time of challenge, either by advancing transfers of expected donations or by making new pledges and payments," Krahenbuhl stressed.

The UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 soon after the mass Palestinian exodus that was triggered by the establishment of Israel and the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. Since then, several generations of Palestinian refugees have grown up in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. About 5.4 million Palestinian refugees are currently registered with the UNRWA across its five fields of operation.