Support UNRWA

September 19, 2024

Background: The Biden Administration continues to withhold U.S. funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Of 16 countries that temporarily froze funds to UNRWA, all but the U.S. resumed funding after UNRWA addressed the concerns that had been raised.

Since 1948 UNRWA has been the most important on-the-ground organization providing vital humanitarian assistance for Palestinian refugees, not only in the West Bank and Gaza but throughout the region. In addition to its role in meeting basic needs, UNRWA is vital to broader rights for Palestinians, including their status as refugees and any right of return for those displaced.

UN agencies such as UNRWA are critical at this moment as famine conditions in Gaza continue to escalate, and water borne illnesses like Polio are now spreading. Politically motivated efforts to inhibit UNRWA will only exacerbate suffering in Gaza. As the largest finical donor to UNRWA, it is critical the U.S. restores funding.

Faith Reflection: I will provide for them a splendid vegetation so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the insults of the nations. (Ezekiel 34:29)

Action: Urge Congress and the White House to support UNRWA

Read more: UNRWA indispensable to implementation of any peace deal

Photo above: Firas Hamlawi, a volunteer with Al-Najd Developmental Forum, an MCC partner in the Gaza Strip, helped distribute mattresses to families who are in need because of the continued Israeli military bombardment. Photo courtesy of Al-Najd Developmental Forum.