Monday, September 3, 2018
UNRWA Funding cut effects Palestine schools by Maggie Kate Howard
The first day of school in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in the West Bank was a momentous occasion for the school's students. Their teachers greeted them with excitement as they came into class. However these schools may not last past this month in Palestine due to a large funding cut by the Trump administration. The US cut decades of funding which was set up in 1948 when the UNRWA was founded. The US was one of the largest donors for the organization, and this funding cut reduces their budget by over 200 million dollars. The funding cut came around the time Trumps senior advisors were trying to create the "deal of the century" for Palestine and Israel. This article was written by Brinley Bruton and Lawahez Jabari, on September 3rd, 2018.
The Middle East is a volatile region. Problems arose in the Middle East between religious groups many years ago. Palestine has seen many violent wars and hostile governments. These tensions were seen clearly during the 1967 war between Palestine and Israel. The US has supported refugee organizations over the years to help with problems in that region. Trump's decision to pull funding from the UNRWA will only increase tensions between Palestine and Israel and the United States. This decision could bring more conflict to the region.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/unrwa-funding-cut-could-close-palestinian-schools-within-weeks-n905956
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree and think that Trump shouldn't have pulled funding from the UNRWA. Trump should put the funding back in so the number of conflicts in that region will reduce and the chances of peace will increase.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say that Trump shouldnt have pulled the funding. Because of this, tensions can increase with Palestine and Israel making the US and them have a conflict. This might affect our country in the future. - gracie zytynski
ReplyDeleteWhat NBC didn't tell you is that the Trump Administration threatened to cut some funding for the UNRWA IF Palestine did not agree to engage in peace negotiations, which didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. has been the top donor to the UNRWA BY FAR. According to unrwa.org, America paid $380,593,116 in 2015, which is more than twice the amount the second highest donating organization paid (which would be the EU, with $136,751,943 USD). Even the site you linked notes that America paid approximately one third of the $1.1 billion funding. The rest of the world can probably help out a bit, no?
Additionally, the United States doesn't donate through UNRWA alone. In fact, through USAID, we pay $600 million yearly to Palestine alone, in West Bank and Gaza, which is exactly where Dheisheh is located.
Cutting funding can mean the destruction and descent into oblivion of hundreds of children's livelihoods, if you look at it through the eyes of a pessimist. But if you don't think that something is evil just because Trump said it, you'll realize that it means we can support refugees somewhere else, and afford to relocate many of them to the United States (even though the U.S. has already paid $8.8 billion dollars on that in only the last five years).
Lastly, the UNRWA was founded in December of 1949, not 1948. Do your homework, NBC.