JERUSALEM: Israel supports a cut in US funding for a UN agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees — a possibility raised by President Donald Trump — but prefers it be carried out gradually, a senior Israeli official said on Saturday.
Trump threatened earlier this week to withhold future aid payments to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) over what he called the Palestinians’ unwillingness to talk peace with Israel.
The idea, condemned as blackmail by Palestinians, was initially met with mixed reactions in Israel, with some officials warning of the dangers in cutting off financial assistance to the Palestinians.
“Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) supports a gradual cut to UNRWA,” said the senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Axios news website reported on Friday that the United States had frozen $125 million in funding for UNRWA, but a State Department official said no decision had been made.
Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement that the premier “supports President Trump’s critical approach and believes that practical steps should be taken to change the situation in which UNRWA is perpetuating the Palestinian refugee problem rather than resolving it.”
UNRWA supports much of the population in the Gaza Strip and a cut to its budget could ramp up tensions with Israel, a main conduit for aid into the territory.
The United States is the largest donor to the agency, with a pledge of nearly $370 million as of 2016, according to UNRWA’s website.
Israel supports gradual funding cut to UN agency for Palestinians — official
Israel supports gradual funding cut to UN agency for Palestinians — official
Algeria archbishop welcomes pope visit as ‘dream come true’
- French-language newspaper El Watan said the “symbolic” visit was “of great historical significance in a country where ancient Christian memory coexists with the Muslim reality of today”
ALGIERS: Pope Leo XIV’s newly announced visit to Algeria in April has been welcomed as a dream come true by the archbishop of Algiers.
The trip will mark the first time a head of the Catholic Church has visited the North African Muslim-majority country.
“This dream of a pope visiting Algeria ... has come true!” Jean-Paul Vesco, the Franco Algerian cardinal of the Catholic Church who serves as the Archbishop of Algiers, wrote in a statement.
He added that the pontiff had come to see “the Algeria of today, a meeting point between north and south, east and west, the West and the Arab-Muslim world.”
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The Algerian presidency said the pope’s trip reflected Algeria and the Vatican’s ‘shared belief in the need to build a world based on peace, dialogue, and justice, against the various challenges currently facing humanity.’
French-language newspaper El Watan said the “symbolic” visit was “of great historical significance in a country where ancient Christian memory coexists with the Muslim reality of today.”
Arabic-language newspaper El Khabar agreed that the visit, announced by the Vatican on Tuesday, “carries a great symbolic and spiritual dimension.”
For Leo, the trip is in honor of fifth-century Saint Augustine, who was born in modern-day Algeria and whose order he follows.
Leo, who was elected in May last year, will visit the capital Algiers and the city of Annaba — where the Basilica of Saint Augustine stands — from April 13 to 15.
The 70-year-old pontiff said the trip would allow him to “continue the discourse of dialogue and bridge-building between the Christian and the Muslim worlds.”
After Algeria, the pope will visit Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
