The Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday put a brake on increasing U.S. contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which supports Palestinian refugees pending its investigation of both UNRWA’s operations and the propriety of higher U.S. contributions. The consensus of the committee was that the U.S. has borne a disproportionate share of the burden for too long.
A preliminary report, presented by Sen. Patrick J. Leary (D.Vt.) showed that the U.S. has contributed at least 70 percent of UNRWA’s funds over the past 20 years. It also showed that Israel has contributed more than most of the Arab countries toward supporting the Palestinian refugees, including Arab countries with the greatest oil wealth.
Two subcommittees of the Foreign Relations Committee will look into the agency’s use of the funds it gets from 62 countries and will report to the full committee next Tuesday. The action came after several committee members, most prominently Sens. Hubert H. Humphrey (D. Minn.) and Richard Stone (D. Fla.) expressed serious concern over the continued and increasing American contributions.
The Administration has asked for $26.2 million for UNRWA in the current fiscal year which equals its regular contribution for last year. But in 1976 the U.S. gave $12 million more in a special payment for a total of $38,770,000. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D.Mass.) moved to increase the amount requested by the Administration to equal last year’s total.
Sen. James Abourezk (D.SD) went to the Senate floor April 1 to ask for an additional $28 million, which would bring the U.S. contribution this year to $66.7 million. Abourezk contended that apart from the “humanitarian point of view,” consideration should be given to achieving a peace settlement in the Middle East. Leary’s report showed that the Administration had asked for funding to encourage other donors “to act more generously than might otherwise be the case.”
ISRAEL CONTRIBUTED $1.119 MILLION
His report showed that Israel, subjected to Arab boycott measures and with its own economy in serious straits, contributed $1.119 million to UNRWA last year while Egypt and Algeria gave nothing. Saudi Arabia, the richest of the Arab oil producing nations, gave $1.2 million and then added $10 million in a special fund. But Bahrein, the Persian Gulf oil producer, gave only $15,000 and oil-rich Iraq and Libya only $122,000 and $600,000, respectively.
The United Arab Emirates, also major oil producers, contributed only $270,000 for the Palestinian refugees and Kuwait, which gave $1 million to the Organization for African Unity (OAU) last week, came up with only $600,000 for the Palestinians. Syria gave $36,000, Jordan contributed $243,000 and Lebanon $103,000. The Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China gave nothing, nor did any other Communist country contribute to UNRWA.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
