On Tuesday 2 October, several members of the European Parliament called upon the United States to cancel its decision to cease it's contributions to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
“We hope that the United States will, for humanitarian reasons, reconsider its decision”, said José Ignacio Salafranca Spain, on behalf of the EPP group, who considers that the American decision simply undermines the country's influence in seeking a fair and sustainable solution to the conflict.
His fellow Spaniard, Elena Valenciano of the S&D, feels that the decision “goes far beyond abandoning fragile people who need help and moves in the direction of stirring up hatred and abandonment”. “This is a serious decision financially, but also one that makes a two-State solution impossible”, she added, calling upon the US to resume their efforts at solidarity and building peace.
Hilde Vautmans (ALDE, Belgium) argued that it is “vital for the future of the Palestinian State to support UNRWA, that we decide to compensate it for its lost income, that we help the agency to reform and for the United States to continue to work towards a two-State solution”.
Although the Agency received broad support, some MEPs called for it to be scrapped. Bas Belder (ECR, Netherlands) posited that “UNRWA is blocking a solution to the question of the Palestinian refugees. The US decision offers the international community a unique opportunity radically to change aid to the Palestinians. We need new, rational criteria, the end of automaticity”. He called for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to become responsible for the Palestinian refugees. This was echoed by Germany's Marcus Pretzell (ENF), who urged the EU to “take a leaf out of the Americans' book and stop” its financing.
The Commissioner for the Neighbourhood Policy, Johannes Hahn, said that the US was “breaking international agreements and bilateral agreements” concerning the financing of UNRWA. He reiterated the EU's political and financial support for the agency.
The European Parliament also voted, by a small majority (143 votes to 150 and 19 abstentions), against holding a further debate, by request of the S&D, on the – imminent – demolition of the Bedouin village Khan al-Ahmar. The Parliament debated and adopted a resolution on this subject at the last plenary session (see EUROPE 12095). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)