A U.S. security bill that would restrict funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees is raising alarm, as rights advocates say a years-long effort to dismantle the agency is gaining steam amid Israel's war against Gaza.
The proposed $118 billion legislation, whose draft (PDF) was blocked in the US Senate on Wednesday, includes a provision prohibiting Washington from allocating funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). ).
Seth Binder, advocacy director at the Center for Middle East Democracy, said this would apply to humanitarian assistance included in the bill, as well as any previously approved funds for UNRWA that have not yet been allocated, a sum which totals around $300,000.
“It is unclear… where and how this specific provision can become law, if ever,” Binder told Al Jazeera. “But it's still worrying given recent events.”
UNRWA came under renewed scrutiny last month after the Israeli government accused around a dozen of the agency's more than 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7. , in which 1,139 people were reported to have died.
UNRWA immediately dismissed the employees in question and announced it would open an investigation into the allegations, which it called “shocking” and “serious.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also appointed an independent panel to investigate.
Israel has yet to provide evidence to support its accusations, but as a result, the United States and several other countries quickly suspended funding to the agency. UNRWA relies on contributions from governments to fund its operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
In that context, the Senate bill, which was supported by President Joe Biden, reflected growing bipartisan acceptance of what were previously Republican-driven attempts to restrict UNRWA, Ethan Mayer-Rich said at the Washington DC Arab Center.
“We are seeing a fairly rapid move away from what used to be a division along party lines,” he told Al Jazeera. “It's reckless and ultimately I think history will see [the US] as completely complicit in what is undoubtedly an incredibly tragic and terrible situation.”
Mayer-Rich, liaison for the center for US government affairs, added that “the conversation is guided in part by the Biden administration.”
“We have seen, at this point, an endorsement from the highest level of the office that it is okay for Democrats to question UNRWA's mandate, to question the necessity of its mission, which has long been a government-led effort. the Republicans. ” he said.
“This is a message that will have a lasting impact on the way Democrats talk about UNRWA and the necessary services it provides.”
'A huge hole'
Indeed, current attempts in the United States to defund UNRWA come at a critical time.
The agency is leading humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza, where Israel's military bombardment has killed more than 27,708 Palestinians and caused large-scale destruction since October 7.
Palestinians in the besieged enclave also face severe shortages of food, water and medical care. The local health system is on the verge of total collapse and more than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced. Many families have sought refuge in UNRWA-run facilities.
Since the Biden administration announced a freeze on UNRWA funding in late January, senior UN officials, as well as human rights advocates and humanitarian aid groups, have issued multiple petitions calling on Washington to reconsider its decision.
Previously, the United States provided $422 million to the agency in 2023, making it the largest contributor to UNRWA. Those funds represented almost 30 percent of UNRWA's contributions last year, said Bill Deere, director of the agency's representative office in Washington.
“If this proposal were to become law, there would be a huge gap that would have to be filled,” Deere told Al Jazeera in an email, referring to the Senate bill.
The legislation, which included more than $14 billion in additional U.S. security assistance to Israel, was backed by the White House but is unlikely to reach Biden's desk to be signed into law, particularly after of Wednesday's setback in the Senate.
Top Republicans have also said he will be “dead on arrival” if he reaches the House of Representatives, amid calls for stricter immigration measures.
Still, Deere, who described the atmosphere in Washington as a “challenging political environment,” said the bill “demonstrates that we must continue to discuss with lawmakers the fact that UNRWA and the UN have acted quickly and decisively to following recent news. ”.
He also warned that the agency “will have difficulty operating beyond March 1 if donor states do not resume their support” and highlighted that UNRWA operates beyond Gaza only.
“Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan will lose access to primary health care, direct food support, rental assistance and education,” Deere said. “Human decency aside, such an event also poses a problem of regional stability.”
Revitalized pressure
But despite those warnings, Republicans have seized on the allegations against UNRWA to reinvigorate a years-long effort to hamper the agency. “This is something they've been trying to do for a long time and they've really seized the moment,” Mayer-Rich said.
Republicans in Congress have introduced at least seven bills aimed at defunding or dissolving UNRWA since Israel's allegations became public, according to a tally by the Arab Center in Washington, DC.
Republican lawmakers held a subcommittee hearing last week titled “UNRWA Exposed: Examining the Agency's Mission and Failures.”
And a group of nearly two dozen Republican senators had called for the legislation to include “an immediate and permanent ban” on U.S. assistance to UNRWA. “The United States must permanently suspend all contributions to UNRWA,” they said (PDF) on January 31.
The initiative comes less than six years after former Republican President Donald Trump ended US assistance to the agency in 2018, saying Washington was shouldering a “very disproportionate share of the burden of UNRWA costs.” .
That move, widely seen as part of the Trump administration's hardline, pro-Israel stance, crippled UNRWA operations. Biden restored funding in 2021.
Tariq Kenney-Shawa, a U.S. policy fellow at the Palestinian think tank Al-Shabaka, said Israel and its allies in the United States have attacked UNRWA for decades in an effort to weaken Palestinian refugees' right to return. which is now Israel, a long-established country. permanent demand.
“What Republicans would like to see is a dismantling and defunding of UNRWA so that the 'problem' of Palestinian refugees can disappear into the annals of history,” he told Al Jazeera.
While Republicans have historically been the “loudest voices” putting pressure on UNRWA, Kenney-Shawa explained that unconditional support for Israel in the United States is bipartisan. Last month, some establishment Democrats quickly called for funding to the agency to be cut as well, following the recent allegations.
He also highlighted the timing of the accusations against UNRWA and the US funding cut, just hours after the International Court of Justice determined on January 26 that Israel was “plausibly” committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“Representatives of the [Biden] “The administration itself has emphasized the critical role UNRWA plays in providing aid and support to Palestinian refugees and Palestinians in need,” Kenney-Shawa said.
“But at the same time, I think their biggest concern is providing cover for Israel at any cost, and I think that cost is Palestinian refugees and UNRWA.”
The United States will 'redirect' financing
Although the Senate bill is unlikely to pass in its current form, the UNRWA provision continues to raise alarm.
The US State Department acknowledged this week that the Biden administration is looking for other ways to support humanitarian efforts in Gaza because the legislation contains language that would block its ability to fund the agency.
Spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters on Monday that Washington plans to “redirect funds for UNRWA to other partners to provide assistance in Gaza,” including the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP). ).
The Senate bill included $1.4 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, Patel said. “This is tangible money that we believe will save lives and have a direct impact on Palestinian civilians.”
However, the leaders of several UN agencies – including UNICEF and the WFP – said last week that suspending funding for UNRWA would have “catastrophic consequences” because “no other entity has the capacity to deliver” what is needed. in Gaza.
The International Rescue Committee and other humanitarian groups also said: “UNRWA's humanitarian role in this crisis is indispensable and cannot be remotely replaced by any other aid organization.”
According to Kenney-Shawa, the future of UNRWA funding in the United States largely depends on the political will of the Biden administration and the Democratic Party.
“If the Biden administration is truly committed to providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, as they say on paper, then there are avenues to counter the Republicans and ensure that there are no provisions within these proposed bills that automatically simply cut total funding,” he said.
But that seems unlikely, Kenney-Shawa explained, because it would mean taking on Republicans and pro-Israel lobbyists in an election year, and possibly appearing to challenge Israel.
“I think, as always, Republicans are taking the opportunity to put the Biden administration between a rock and a hard place, knowing full well that at the end of the day, the Biden administration will side with Israel. .”
