Days before Israel announced that it was going ahead with 4,000 new illegal settlement units in the West Bank, U.S. ambassador Thomas Nides, who was reportedly briefed on the plans, said “I really respect this government… they really want to do the right thing. I’m thrilled to work with them. Everything I do is about strengthening a democratic Jewish state. As for Palestinians, they should believe in their heart that there’s still an opportunity for a two-state solution.”

Where is that opportunity you speak of Mr. Ambassador?

Palestinians were left to ponder that question when the Israeli High Court recently greenlighted the forcible expulsion of yet another 1,200 Palestinians from the southern occupied West Bank. According to B’Tselem, the Israeli Human Rights Organization, “After 20 years of legal proceedings, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that the forcible transfer of hundreds of Palestinians from their homes for the clear purpose of taking over their lands in the service of Jewish interests is legal. If carried out, it would constitute a violation of international law which prohibits Israel as an occupying power from transferring members of the occupied population from their existing communities against their will.”

Mr. Ambassador, Palestinians are left to wonder, too, about your own government’s recent attempt to redefine UNRWA, a United Nations Agency for Palestinian relief, which, if successful, would destroy any possibility of a just solution. UNRWA’s mission, which has been in effect since 1949, has done more than provide urgent support for millions of refugees. It has also been a political platform that protected and preserved the rights of generations of Palestinians.

Though UNRWA was not established as a political or legal platform per se, the context of its mandate was largely political, since Palestinians became refugees as a result of military and political events – the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people by Israel and the latter’s refusal to respect the Right of Return for Palestinians as enshrined in UN resolution 194 (III) of December 11, 1948.

UNRWA provides educational, health and other support for 5.6 million Palestinians in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. At an annual budget of $1.6 billion, this support cannot be easily replaced.

In June 2018, Jared Kushner, son-in-law, and advisor to former US President Donald Trump, visited Amman, Jordan, where he tried to persuade Jordan’s King Abdullah to remove the refugee status from 2 million Palestinians currently living in that country. When this attempt failed, the Trump administration ended its financial support of UNRWA.  As the organization’s main funder, (30 percent of URWA’s money comes from the US alone) Trump’s decision was devastating.

The Biden Administration resumed funding in April 2021, but a little caveat in Washington’s move was largely kept secret. Washington only agreed to fund UNRWA after the latter agreed to sign a two-year plan, known as Framework for Cooperation. In essence, the plan effectively turned UNRWA into a platform for Israeli and American policies in Palestine, whereby the UN body consents to the US – thus Israeli – demands to ensure that no aid would reach any Palestinian refugee who has received military training or had engaged in any acts of terrorism as defined by Israel.

By entering into an agreement with the US Department of State, UNRWA has effectively transformed itself from a humanitarian agency that provides relief for Palestinian refugees to a security agency furthering the security and political agenda of the US, and ultimately Israel, thereby altering the entire mandate granted to UNRWA 73 years ago by the international community. Under pressure, the Europe parliament also passed an amendment that would condition EU support of UNRWA on the editing and rewriting of Palestinian school textbooks that supposedly incite violence against Israel. Instead of focusing solely on shutting down UNRWA, the US, Israel and their supporters are working to rewrite its original mandate to protect Israeli, American and western interests in Palestine. In light of these developments, Mr. Ambassador, how can Palestinians still believe in their hearts that there will be a just two-state solution?

Cathy Sultan’s books, including Israeli and Palestinian Voices: A Dialogue with Both Sides, are available for purchase on Amazon.