Political Influence of States on UNRWA UNRWA’s status as an agency that is not provided funding within the UN’s main budget, and is instead reliant on voluntary funding, puts it in a particularly vulnerable position regarding the political influence of states. While Israel has no proper authority to alter UNRWA’s operations, Israel has consistently tried to attack, defame, and delegitimize the Agency. In the service of this aim, it has exerted political pressure on UNRWA donors to induce the defunding of the Agency. The United Kingdom, for example, recently halved its donations to the Agency, and the Gulf states have significantly cut their funding – or, at least, have threatened to do so.375 Similarly, the US, the largest contributor to UNRWA’s budget, ceased all of its donations in 2018, with other states like the Netherlands and Switzerland following suit.376 Although these states have since reinstated their donations, the message has been made clear: funding to UNRWA and, more generally, the support of Palestinian refugees, is conditional and vulnerable to political influences in donor states. A blatant example of this can be found in the “2021-2022 Framework for Cooperation Between [UNRWA] and the USA,” which conditions US funding to UNRWA based on the Agency’s compliance with the Framework Agreement’s so-called counter-terrorism regulations. These regulations impose a biased vetting and screening process on UNRWA staff and personnel, and Palestinian refugees and beneficiaries. They incorporate section 301(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, stating that: “[n]o contributions by the United States shall be made to UNRWA except on the condition that UNRWA take all possible measures to assure that no part of the United States contribution shall be used to furnish assistance to any refugee who is receiving military training as a member of the so-called Palestinian Liberation army, or any other guerilla-type organized or who has engaged in any act of terrorism”. This amounts to labeling Palestinian political and resistance factions as terrorist groups and organizations, contradicting the Palestinian people’s right to struggle for self-determination. The Framework Agreement additionally impedes the freedom of expression of UNRWA staff and personnel by imposing restrictions on their political activity in the public sphere. It even intervenes in UNRWA’s educational curriculum, imposing obligations to excise any and all Palestinian national and historical content from it. This violates right of Palestinian children to human rights education and imposes improper limits on their ability to later engage in political participation in the pursuit of the realization of their people’s right to self-determination.377 Ultimately, Israel – aided by its allies – seeks to eliminate the Palestinian refugee question and to obviate international crimes committed to establish, maintain, and legitimize its colonial-apartheid regime over the Palestinian people and their land. Delegitimizing UNRWA, as well as cutting and conditionalizing its funding, is central to this effort. The Agency has been forced into a financial crisis and induced staffing cuts, and it has been left with a significantly reduced budget for assisting Palestinian refugees. 375 AP News, ‘UAE drastically cut funding for Palestinian refugees in 2020’ (AP News, 6 February 2021) <https:// apnews.com/article/middle-east-israel-united-arab-emirates-f25e0734de67b23129da9a8bd656ce47> accessed 3 October 2022. 376 Euro-Med Monitor, ‘Switzerland and the Netherlands suspend UNRWA funding, undermining Palestinian refugees’ rights,’(Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, 1 August 2019) <https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/3041/Switzerlandand-the-Netherlands-suspend-UNRWA-funding,-undermining-Palestinian-refugees%27-rights> accessed 3 October 2022. 377 BADIL, Self-Determination (n 89), 10-11. 80