The issue of Palestinian refugees has been recognized by all parties –including Israel, the Palestinians, and the U.S. – as an integral part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and one of the key “final status issues” to be resolved through negotiations. Until there is such a resolution, the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) is the UN body charged with providing humanitarian support for Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.

Looking specifically at the West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNRWA has long played a vital role as a source of stability and humanitarian assistance – food, medical care, education – to a population in severe distress. The continued effective operations of UNRWA – until such time as a permanent and mutually acceptable solution for the Palestinian refugees can be achieved – is crucial to the security interests of both the U.S. and Israel, permitting the maintenance of some degree of stability and helping stave off the outbreak of a wholly-avoidable and potentially catastrophic humanitarian disaster, particularly in Gaza.

Over the years, the U.S. government and U.S. taxpayers have contributed generously to UNRWA. This funding should be recognized as an investment in the stability and security of the region and the well-being of Israel. It also ensures that Israel is not forced to shoulder the burden of caring for refugees in the West Bank and Gaza.

It is appropriate for the U.S. to demand accountability and oversight of U.S. funding to UNRWA. However, attacks on UNRWA – including demands for unreasonable levels of oversight of operations and programs, efforts to disband or restructure the organization, and demands that an agency that has no security mandate or military resources actively fight terrorists – are perceived by many in the Middle East, not unreasonably, as attempts to disenfranchise refugees and prejudice the outcome of final status negotiations.

Moreover, undermining UNRWA operations is inconsistent with the interests and publicly-articulated policies of both the U.S. and Israel. International sanctions imposed on Gaza in order to put pressure on Hamas have already brought the people there – the majority of whom are under the age of 18 – to the brink of an entirely man-made humanitarian catastrophe, and UNRWA is one of the only things preventing a total collapse. For the sake of Israeli and U.S. interests, and for the sake of innocent civilians, Congress must resist efforts to politicize support for UNRWA or undermine its operations.

APN supports continued U.S. funding of UNRWA, with reasonable oversight and accountability of U.S. taxpayer funds and rejects efforts to undermine or de-legitimize UNRWA.