Our commitment to refugees stands firm

Dear UNRWA USA community,

For nearly 20 years, your support has enabled the UNRWA USA National Committee (UNRWA USA) to provide food assistance, health care, education, shelter, and protection services to Palestine refugees across Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

UNRWA USA has been especially grateful for your continued support as the already grave humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip becomes that much more dire. Your generous contributions have supplied food and water to those facing starvation, delivery of urgent medical care to the sick and injured, and psychosocial support to the traumatized. Your support has literally saved thousands of lives and fostered hope in the bleakest of circumstances. 

As you may be aware, UNRWA USA has recently become the subject of a baseless legal action concerning our support for UNRWA. This action is meritless and we are taking appropriate steps to vigorously defend UNRWA USA as an organization and its work in support of Palestine refugees. As we previously announced, and as a temporary measure taken in an abundance of caution, given the Biden Administration’s decision to suspend its funding to UNRWA, UNRWA USA has paused our own disbursements to the Agency. This decision was not taken lightly. 

We do not yet know when our disbursements to UNRWA will resume. In this regard, we are closely tracking the investigations by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and the independent review group, as requested by the United Nations Secretary-General.

We are gratified to note that a number of countries have already resumed funding UNRWA. As an American nonprofit organization – and given our funding of UNRWA was for the very same humanitarian purposes as that of the United States government and countries around the world – we are also paying close attention to the still-developing U.S. government approach in this matter.
 
During this pause, UNRWA USA seeks to honor our mission and our donors’ intent by continuing to support the delivery of essential humanitarian services for Palestine refugees. It is our intent to use funds received for UNRWA USA’s Gaza emergency relief since the U.S. government paused its funding to continue to meet urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza given the situation is so desperate. UNRWA USA is in the process of vetting a number of key organizations that are currently best serving the immediate needs of Palestinians in Gaza and disbursing funds as soon as possible. 

UNRWA USA has long been the trusted steward of your financial support for humanitarian services in Gaza and UNRWA’s other four field sites. We intend to draw on this long-standing experience to raise additional, new funding for these needs – and to ramp up the distribution of these funds – in order to help meet the urgent needs arising from the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza today.
 
On the advice of our legal counsel, UNRWA USA staff cannot answer further questions about any ongoing litigation at this time. We will provide additional updates as we are able.  
 
Thank you for your steadfast support in making our critical, life-saving work possible.

In solidarity,
UNRWA USA

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UNRWA USA National Committee (UNRWA USA) is an independent nonprofit organization that provides support for humanitarian assistance to Palestine refugees. UNRWA USA lifts up the voices, experiences, and humanity of Palestine refugees to secure American support for resources essential to every human being, for the promise of a better life. US taxpayers are eligible for tax deductions for donations made to UNRWA USA.