Lebanon’s foreign ministry condemned the United States’ decision to stop its contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“Helping UNRWA is the duty of the countries that agreed to the establishment of the state of Israel on Palestinian land and covered up the occupation of the territory and the displacement of its people,” the ministry said in a statement.
It warned of the intentions behind the decision, “which comes in the context of successive events,” including the relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem and the declaration of the city as Israel’s capital and the defining of Israel as a Jewish state through the recent nation-state law.
The foreign ministry called for an “emergency meeting” of the Arab League, including host and donor nations to UNRWA, on the sidelines of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.
In this regard, the ministry praised Germany’s decision to increase its contribution to UNRWA and called on other countries to follow its example in order to fill the void caused by Washington’s decision and allow the continuation of UNRWA’s work.
