NEW YORK, January 17, 2018 (WAFA) - The Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) General Delegation to the United States said that refugees’ access to basic humanitarian services is not a bargaining chip, but a US and international obligation.

In a response to the US administration’s decision on Tuesday to freeze funding to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Ambassador Husam Zomlot, head of the Delegation said "heeding Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu‘s zero sum game to take Jerusalem off the table and now attempting to dismantle UNRWA, thinking that it would relinquish the rights of Palestinian refugees is a fallacy."

Zomlot criticized the US decision saying taking away food and education from vulnerable refugees does not bring a lasting and comprehensive peace and that the rights of Palestinian refugees will not be compromised by a financial decision.

"The rights of Palestine refugees are enshrined in international law and UN resolutions sponsored and supported by the US, including the establishment of UNRWA in December 1949. Consequently, since UNRWA began its operations, every US administration, from President Truman onwards, has honored the commitment towards the refugee agency."

He added that it is indefensible that the US would withhold assistance for Palestine‘s refugees or any population in need and that these actions add greater uncertainty to an already volatile situation in Palestine and in the region, and run against the core values of the US and the international system.

Zomlot stressed that funding to UNRWA should continue unabated and urged the US to honor its commitments to UNRWA and encourage other governments to do the same.

M.H.