Trump punishes Palestinians

On Monday September 10, Trump administration ordered shutdown of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's office in Washington alleging that "the PLO has not taken steps to advance the start of direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel." The decision of closure of the PLO office came after a series of anti-Palestinian actions taken by the Trump administration during the past twelve months. Last year, it recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and in May this year the US embassy was relocated from Tele Aviv to Jerusalem. Recently the State Department decided to defund United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) and withhold $200 million earmarked for supporting the Palestinians. It wanted UNRWA to redefine "refugees" and restrict the assistance to those who became refugees at the time of the creation of Israel. Last week, the State Department has terminated $25 million meant to support the health care services in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

President Trump declared, at the very beginning of his presidency, the appointment of Jerad Kushner, his son in law, as the special peace negotiator for Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Trump bestowed profound confidence in Kushner and made a prediction that if Kushner could not resolve the conflict, no one else would be able to do it. Kushner has never been a diplomat nor has ever been involved in conflict resolution. It was a misplaced confidence. Kushner's appointment was followed by reports in the media that Kushner's family had massive investment in the building of settlements in the occupied territories. A few weeks later, Trump appointed David Friedman, as US Ambassador to Israel. Friedman began campaigning for the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem even before the Senate confirmed his appointment. The appointment of two hard core pro-Israeli individuals to steer the peace process virtually diminished the possibility of any breakthrough.

The inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem in May was attended by Kushner, his wife Ivanka Trump and others. The decision was condemned in the Muslim world. The European countries which were in favour of peaceful resolution of the conflict called the US decision unhelpful. The Palestinians, as expected, protested the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem. The Israeli security forces confronted the demonstrators with bullets killing 62 unarmed Palestinians. The vast majority of peace loving American Jews believe "relocation of the embassy to Jerusalem" would further erode Palestinian's confidence in the United States as peace broker. They denounced the killings of unarmed demonstrators and admonished the leaders for their silence on the atrocious murders committed by the Israeli army.

There were angry reactions from the Palestinian leaderships. Mahmoud Abbas expressed reservations and said the United States could no longer play the role of a peace broker after recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He referred to the Oslo Agreement which recognised the rights of the Palestinians on the holy city and suggested the issue to be settled through negotiations. Abbas refused to meet Kushner and his team to discuss the peace plan, which has not yet been made public. Trump announced that his administration was working on a peace plan and added that he eliminated the future of Jerusalem from negotiations when he recognised it as the capital of Israel.

Trump administration, angered by the Palestinian leaderships' refusal to meet Kushner, decided to terminate financial support to agencies providing humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Palestinian families. On August 30, the State Department announced that the United States will no longer contribute to UNRWA. It called UNRWA an "irredeemably flawed operation and criticised other countries for not sharing the burden of supporting the Palestinians." It blamed UNRWA and other international donors for failing to reform the organisation's way of doing business."

Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, confirmed "the pullback is also a response to Palestinian hostility toward the United States, which intensified after the US policy changes that Palestinians deem pro-Israel."

UNRWA was created in 1949 by the United Nations to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians rendered homeless or turned refugees and living in neighbouring countries after the creation of Israel. The agency now supports over 2.0 million Palestinians in occupied territories and 3.0 million Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The assistance provided are in the form of food support, shelter, education, health care and other essential services. It has an annual budget of about $1.0 billion and the United States contributes about 30 per cent of the budget. Israel, on the other hand, receives over $3.3 billion as economic and military aid from the United States per annum.

Condemning the defunding of UNRWA, the office of President Abbas released a statement accusing the Trump administration of "stripping millions of Palestinians of their refugee status." It also said, "After using humanitarian aid to blackmail and pressure the Palestinian leadership to submit to the empty plan known as the 'deal of the century' the Trump administration plans to commit an immoral scandal against Palestinian refugees by giving itself the right to abolish their historical (return) rights."

The defunding of UNRWA and attempts to redefine refugee have sparked a debate in Israel. Israel rejects "right of return" and maintains that such a notion would lead to eventual demise of the Jewish state. Prime Minister Netanyahu suggested UNRWA to be incorporated into the UN refugee organisation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. But the goals of both agencies include repatriating the refugees, integrating them into countries where they have fled or resettling them in third countries.

The "right of return" has been one of the core points of dispute in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Neither the United States nor Israel can unilaterally redefine the rights of the refugees. Only the United Nations General Assembly, which has been sympathetic to the sufferings of the Palestinians, can make a collective decision on it.

The termination of economic assistance to the Palestinians and defunding of UNRWA have not been well received even in Israel. Political observers worry that lack of funding would make Palestinian security and social infrastructure dysfunctional and the Hamas will regain political influence in Gaza where people suffer from extreme poverty and unemployment. Should the Palestinians remain left out, the younger generation will opt out to join the forces that seek end of occupation and the powers that sanction occupation.

While the United States have defunded UNRWA and withheld economic assistance to the Palestinians, Germany and Japan have increased their financial support to the Palestinians. This is indeed a commendable gesture. But where are the affluent oil rich Arab countries? Don't they feel ashamed that while non-Muslim countries in Europe and far East have come forward to alleviate the sufferings of the Palestinians, they are yet to stand up for the fellow Muslims? If they can commit over $33 billion to purchase ammunitions form the United States, can't they commit $1.0 billion for the besieged Palestinians?

The termination of US funding to the Palestinians will lead to abdication of America's role in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.  The United States is already in retreat in the world stage. In the face of China's growing trade and military overtures, the United States has abandoned Taiwan and the Philippines. China has unveiled a package of $100 billion to support development projects in Africa and in the Middle East.  The US-Canada trade dispute has wrecked the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The US has withdrawn from the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) last year. The Europeans have been disillusioned by Washington's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and Trump's attitude toward NATO.

All these suggest that the United States has been retreating from the world stage while China and Russia are advancing their role in different regions of the world.

Abdur Rahman Chowdhury is a former official of the United Nations.darahman.

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