Secretary General of the Arab League (AL) Ahmed Aboulgheit lambasted the White House's announcement that the United States has decided, from now on, to stop funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, in Middle East (UNRWA).
In a statement issued here today, the chief of the AL stated that Washington shall bear the responsibility for the significant damage done to the five million Palestinian refugees, who depend on the services provided by the agency, especially in the domains of health, education and employment.
He stressed that the United States is abandoning, by such an unjust act, its political and moral responsibility over the tragedy of the Palestinian refugees, which has not been resolved for seventy years.
The resolution exacerbates UNRWA's problems and crises, he affirmed, which we have followed with great concern over the past year, as it will extend to the host Arab countries, already burdened with cumbersome obligations, over and above their potentials, especially Jordan and Lebanon, accommodating for large numbers of Syrian refugees, as well.
For his part, Spokesman for the Secretary General of the Arab League Mahmoud Afifi said, however, that AL will hold intensive contacts with UNRWA commissioner-general to discuss ways of confronting the crisis, that will result from the American decision, especially with the start of the academic year, pointing out that the crisis of UNRWA will top the agenda to be discussed, during the regular meeting of the Council of the Arab League, at the level of Arab foreign ministers, which will be held, at the headquarters of the AL, shortly.