U.N. officials in Washington to defend Palestinian refugee aid

http://www.americantaskforce.org/daily_news_article/2013/03/13/un_officials_washington_defend_palestinian_refugee_aid
Josh Rogin
Foreign Policy
March 13, 2013 - 12:00am
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/03/13/un_officials_in_washington_to...

U.S. aid to the Palestinian refugees could fall victim to the automatic budget cuts that went into effect March 1, so the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) made two trips to Washington this month to argue for consistency in U.S. help for his organization.

Filippo Grandi, the commissioner general of UNRWA, came to Washington last week but had to come back this week due to the March 6 snowstorm. On Tuesday he met with Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Anne Richard, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), and staffers from the Senate Appropriations and Senate Foreign Relations Committees. He will also see Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and Middle East Special Envoy David Hale.

On Wednesday he sat down for an interview with The Cable.

Grandi said that U.S. contributions to UNRWA, which are voluntary, are needed more than ever due to the dire situation of Palestinian refugees caught up in the Syria crisis. Right now, the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration require that all accounts be cut evenly, but Congress is expected to provide the State Department flexibility in deciding what to cut. Grandi said he feels confident State won't choose to disproportionately cut money for UNRWA.

"I am encouraged that the will to support UNRWA is there, very clearly. My sense is that if ever there will be any flexibility we will be considered a priority recipient of State Department funds," he said. "All the messages I got back were reassuring, within the context. We are not at the center of the discussion, as you can imagine. We will have to deal with the consequences of whatever is decided on the much bigger scale."

UNRWA is working to get more money from the Gulf states and Asia, but those funds are not forthcoming yet, so the organization is still very dependent on U.S. contributions.

"Any reduction in U.S. funding would be really very serious for UNRWA," Grandi said. "Any cut, selective or across the board, because the U.S. is the biggest bilateral donor, would be irreplaceable."

Some lawmakers, including Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) have been working to reduce U.S. contributions to UNRWA. Grandi said he requested meetings with both those offices but they didn't grant him meetings... READ MORE