NPR: US Freezes More Than Half of Aid to UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees
Aid is an essential tool for foreign policy, diplomacy and security. “The State Department is withholding $65 million it planned to send to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, calling for reforms and for other nations to step up their support — especially those that criticize the Trump administration's positions regarding Palestinians and Israel,” reports Bill Chappell for NPR. The US State Department will send $60 million rather than $125 million directed toward schools and health programs. “The funding freeze comes weeks after the U.S. was soundly rejected in its attempts to block a nonbinding resolution in the U.N. that called for countries not to move their embassies to Jerusalem — as President Trump pledged to do in early December. The U.N. vote to approve the resolution was 128-9.” The State Department urged other countries to do more to help UNRWA. – YaleGlobal
NPR: US Freezes More Than Half of Aid to UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees
US State Department hits pause button on $65 million, about half of its pledge for UN agency for Palestinian refugees, and urges other nations to do more
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Source: UNRWA
Read about aid as a foreign policy tool by Clair Apodaca for Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics: “The majority of countries around the world are engaged in the foreign aid process, as donors, recipients, or, oftentimes, both. States use foreign aid as a means of pursuing foreign policy objectives. Aid can be withdrawn to create economic hardship or to destabilize an unfriendly or ideologically antagonistic regime. Or, conversely, aid can be provided to bolster and reward a friendly or compliant regime.”
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