U.S. Vote on Palestinian Refugees Raises Discomfort in Israel

11/30/2021

In April, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the resumption of $150 million in annual American financial assistance to UNRWA in its areas of operation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as well as Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The Trump administration froze the assistance in 2018 after concluding "that this assistance perpetuates and even broadens the Palestinian problem, and fails to deal with it in the right way, which could involve solutions to the refugee issue, not keeping it alive indefinitely".

Ultimately, unlike other conflicts that created refugees, including the Second World War which left millions of refugees in its wake - all of whom were resettled within a decade - the "Palestinian leadership safeguards Palestinian refugees as a permanent festering problem," said Hacham.

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