Jerusalem's outgoing mayor is calling on the international community to consider his proposal to end the local operations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, saying there is "no such thing" as a refugee in the city.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Nir Barkat, who is leaving office after elections later this month, said on Sunday that he was inspired to make his proposal after the United States cut off $300 million in funding to the agency last month.
Barkat's proposal marks the latest assault by Israel and the US against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. US budget cuts have sent the agency into a financial crisis and drawn Palestinian accusations that Israel and the US are trying to erase the refugee issue from the international agenda.
Barkat accused UNRWA schools of using textbooks that promote anti-Israel incitement, and said Israel can provide much better education and health care services to Palestinians who rely on the agency. The US funding cuts will only widen those gaps, he said.
"I look at all of my residents as residents. There's no such thing as residents that live in the city of Jerusalem that are defined as refugees," he said. "We will treat them like any other residents in the city and provide the best services we can."
Barkat's plan faces significant obstacles. For starters, he does not appear to have the legal authority to shut down an international agency that was created by the UN General Assembly decades ago and continues to have wide international backing. He said the Israeli government is studying the proposal.
In addition, taking on the responsibility of providing services to Jerusalem's more than 12,000 Palestinians who rely on UNRWA will be an additional burden for the cash-strapped municipality.
The city's roughly 340,000 Palestinians live overwhelmingly in impoverished neighborhoods of east Jerusalem that already suffer from poor services, overcrowded schools and inadequate infrastructure.
The Shuafat refugee camp, where most of the city's refugees live, lies on the outskirts of the city behind Israel's West Bank separation barrier.
Barkat, however, encouraged the UN and others to consider his proposal with "an open mind."
