Corbyn calls on the UK to 'fill the gap' after U.S. ends UNRWA funding

UK Labour leader calls supporting Palestinians "a vital commitment".

By HAGAY HACOHEN
Updated: SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 04:51
Britain's opposition Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn (photo credit: PETER NICHOLLS/REUTERS)
Britain's opposition Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn
(photo credit: PETER NICHOLLS/REUTERS)
UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn took to social media Saturday evening to call the US's decision to end its funding of UNRWA “shameful” and called it “a vital UN refugee agency.”
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) supports roughly five million Palestinians in Jordan, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Corbyn further stated that the “UK must help to fill the gap” left by contributing more to the agency.
The State Department said that the US has decided to end all funding for UNRWA and described the agency as “irredeemably flawed.”
The Palestinian leadership is currently considering going to the UN General Assembly and Security Council to challenge the US administration’s decision, said Palestinian Authority presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh during an interview with The Jerusalem Post.
Palestinian refugees angry and dismayed at U.S. for halting funds to U.N. agency, September 1, 2018 (Reuters)
“Israel supports the American move,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday night.
He explained that the UNRWA’s fixed determination of who is a Palestinian refugee is “one of the main problems perpetuating the conflict.”
According to UNRWA, the refugee status for Palestinians is given to children and grandchildren of those who left or were forced to leave the country during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, a situation unlike all other refugees in the world.