Germany increases UN contributions for Palestine refugees

          Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-31 21:16:26|Editor: xuxin
          Video PlayerClose

          BERLIN, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Germany's federal government has promised to increase its financial contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), German media reported on Friday.

          Media reports cited a letter sent by German foreign minister Heiko Maas (SPD) to his European Union (EU) colleagues in which he wrote that Berlin was willing to make funding available for UNRWA which was "substantially higher" than its previously planned national contribution of 81 million euros (94.4 million U.S. dollars).

          Maas noted in the document, however, that the sum would not suffice to make up for a 186-million-euro shortfall which was created when the United States announced last week that it would freeze all of its payments to the agency. As a consequence, he called on other EU member states to help Germany fill the gap in order to preserve the functionality of UNRWA.

          The justice minister described the United Nations (UN) organization as a key factor to ensure stability in the Gaza strip in particular, where 1.85 million Palestinians live in an extremely densely-populated area of only 365 sq km, which is cordoned off by the Israeli army. Maas warned that a collapse of UNRWA could provoke an "uncontrollable chain reaction" which would threaten peace in the Near and Middle East.

          UNRWA was founded in 1949 and supports more than five million Palestinians living in the autonomous areas of the West Bank and Gaza, as well as in refugee camps in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Most aid is delivered in the form of nutritional products. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed the relief agency for stalling the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

          According to a recent report by the "Washington Post", Trump is planning to drastically reduce the number of Palestinian refugees accepted by the United States in parallel to withdrawing funding which previously accounted for around a third of UNRWA's total budget of 1.1 billion dollars. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, has said that Washington would only offer assistance to Palestinians again when they become less critical of the United States.

          TOP STORIES
          EDITOR’S CHOICE
          MOST VIEWED
          EXPLORE XINHUANET
          010020070750000000000000011100001374342771
          无码人妻一区二区三区四区av_亚洲精品911在线永久观看_精品一区二区国产在线观看_日韩不卡一区二区视频在线

                  亚洲中文制服丝袜欧美精品 | 亚洲日韩久久精品中文字幕 | 青青青国产依人在线观看 | 亚洲AⅤ片综合久久网 | 亚洲欧美日韩国产综合网 | 永久性国产盗摄在线观看 |