News

With no US funding, World Food Programme cuts aid to Palestinians in West Bank, Gaza

The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced severe reductions and suspensions in aid for Palestinian beneficiaries in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip, due to funding shortages brought on by major US aid cuts over the past year.

AFP reported on Sunday that Stephen Kearney, the organization’s director for the Palestinian territories, said some 27,000 Palestinians in the West Bank are no longer receiving aid through the UN program.

Additionally, another 165,000 Palestinians, including 110,000 in Gaza, have seen a 20 percent reduction in the aid they have received from WFP for years.

In 2018, the WFP provided assistance to 250,000 Palestinians in Gaza and 110,000 in the West Bank.

Kearney told journalists that the move came as a result of gradual funding cuts to the program over the years, with US cuts having the biggest effect.

In December, launched an emergency funding appeal saying they needed $57 million to maintain the current level of support to 360,000 people.

At the time, the group said they were “concerned that these cuts may have a devastating effect on the food security, livelihoods and welfare of the people it serves in Palestine.”

“WFP assistance goes to the poorest and most food-insecure communities who are classified as facing deep poverty,” the group said, adding that most of their recipients “struggle to live on less than US$1 per day and are unable to meet their basic food, clothing and housing needs.”

“The withdrawal and reduction of food entitlements may cause them to skip more meals, take on additional debts and withdraw their children from school. These measures risk aggravating the prevailing humanitarian crisis and instability in Gaza,” WFP said.

Despite an increase of contributions from the EU and Switzerland, the WFP came up short, and was forced to administer the aid cuts on January 1st.

The group has also expressed concerns that the cuts would have negative effects on the local Palestinian economy, as many recipients of WFP aid used the organization’s food cards to purchase goods from local stores.

Since he took office, US President Donald Trump has slashed some $500 million in US aid to Palestinians, leaving many organizations and aid programs strapped for cash.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which provides essential services to some 5 million Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, took the biggest hit when the US pulled all its funding — some $350 million annually — last year.

The cuts have threatened the closure of UNRWA schools and clinics, as well as the reduction in healthcare and food assistance programs.

The financial crisis of organizations like UNRWA and WFP will disproportionately affect Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, who make up more than 70% of the coastal enclave’s 2 million residents.

As a result of the 11-year Israeli blockade on the strip, Gaza’s residents suffer from some of the highest unemployment rates in the world, and nearly 80% of the population rely on international aid.

3 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

While Palestinians are deprived of food and other basics of life by the U.S, their illegal/brutal Zionist occupiers and oppressors are riding high thanks to uninformed American taxpayers.

https://israelpalestinenews
“Media Ignore Largest Foreign Military Aid Package in US History” If Americans Knew Blog, Nov. 29/18 By Alison Weir

EXCERPT:
“Congress is about to legislate the largest military aid package to a foreign country in U.S. history, but U.S. media aren’t telling the American public.

“Israelis know about the money, and Israel partisans are pressuring the one lone Senator opposing it, but apparently U.S. news organizations don’t think the general public needs to know…”

“In an astounding case of media negligence, U.S. news media are failing to tell Americans that Congress is about to enact legislation for the largest military aid package to a foreign country in U.S. history.

“This aid package would likely be of interest to Americans, many of whom are cutting back their own personal spending.

“The package is $38 billion to Israel over the next ten years, which amounts to $7,230 per minute to Israel, or $120 per second, and equals about $23,000 for each Jewish Israeli family of four….”
______________________________________________________________________

“Congressional Research Service, U.S. Foreign aid to Israel, Jeremy M. Sharpe, Specialist in Middle East Affairs, April 10, 2018.”

“Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. To date, the United States has provided Israel $134.7 billion (current, or non inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding. Almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance, although in the past Israel also received significant economic assistance. At a signing ceremony at the State Department on September 14, 2016, representatives of the U.S. and Israeli governments signed a new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid covering FY2019 to FY2028. Under the terms of the MOU, the United States pledges to provide $38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in Foreign Military Financing grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel. This MOU replaces a previous $30 billion 10-year agreement, which runs through FY2018.

Why won’t wealthy Palestinian leaders help their own people?
Arafat had a net worth of $1 billion, Abbas $100 million, Abu Marzouk $2-3 billion, Khaled Mashaal, $2.6 billion.