8/31/2018

JARED KUSHNER/MIKE POMPEO/PALESTINE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UN: “In January this year, the United States said it would withhold $65 million, from an initial installment of $125 million it was expected to hand over to UNRWA at the start of the year. The US said it wanted UNRWA to reform and believed other countries should increase the amounts they contributed to the agency…Foreign Policy first reported the Trump administration’s decision to end funding for the UN agency, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949. A senior administration official told CNN the decision was made at a meeting between Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a White House senior adviser, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, but that US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had also been pushing for the move. The Trump administration will also call for a large reduction in the number of Palestinians considered to be refugees, the administration official and a regional diplomat briefed on the decision told CNN. The White House did not immediately return a request for comment on the decision.”

Clare Foran and Elise Labott, “US ends all funding to UN agency for Palestinian refugees,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, August 31, 2018 6:06 am