Mayor wants UN Palestinian refugee agency out of Jerusalem

The mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, wants the UN agency serving Palestinian refugees to stop its work in the city.

His remarks on Monday came three days after the Trump administration said it was ending all funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), putting its future in peril.

The U.S. contribution is about one-quarter of the agency’s more than one-billion-dollar annual budget.

“UNRWA is a foreign and unnecessary organisation that has failed miserably. I intend to expel it from Jerusalem,” Barkat said at a conference sponsored by Israel’s Channel 2, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Barkat said Palestinians were dissatisfied with the variety of social services provided by UNRWA in East Jerusalem, including education.
The mayor said he wanted to close five Palestinian schools operated by UNRWA, affecting some 10,000 students.

“UNRWA’s treatment of residents as refugees is a barrier to their advancement and has no place,” Barkat said.

“The time has come transform them from refugees to residents and to rehabilitate them. It is possible.”
Barkat said he has directed his staff to come up with a plan to replace agency’s services, which will then be presented to Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jerusalem Post reported.

UNRWA supports Palestinians, who lost their homes as a result of the Middle East conflict.

It helps around five million people, providing food aid, operating schools and running health centres.

The New York Times reported that the Trump administration hopes the decision to cut funding will put pressure on Palestinian leaders to accept U.S. proposals for a peace deal with Israel.