WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will give a U.N. agency $60 million in aid for Palestinians refugees but withhold a further $65 million for now, the State Department said on Tuesday, as the Trump administration carried out a threat it made two weeks ago to cut funding. The briefing did not get into the specifics of why the US decided to cut its aid, and would not confirm if it was related to President Donald Trump tweeting earlier this month that the US pays the Palesitian organizations but gets "no appreciation or respect," and that the organizations are "no longer willing to talk peace." United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was unaware of any cut in aid but he was “very concerned” about the possibility because it “is an important factor of stability.”

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl said in a statement that the reduced U.S. contribution “threatens one of the most successful and innovative human development endeavors in the Middle East.”

The decision to keep back some money is likely to compound the difficulty of reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and to further undermine Arabs’ faith that the United States can act as an impartial arbitrator. The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) that will receive the money needed to be fundamentally reevaluated “in the way it operates and the way it is funded.”

“Without the funds we are providing today, UNRWA operations were at risk of running out of funds and closing down. The funds provided by the United States will prevent that from happening for the immediate future,” the official said, saying the additional “$65 million will be held for future consideration.”

In a Twitter post on Jan. 2, Trump said that Washington gives the Palestinians ”HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. “With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”

Although Trump referred to all US assistance to the Palestinians, the contribution to the refugee agency would be the first to be affected. In a Twitter post on Jan. 2, Trump said that Washington gives the Palestinians “HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect.” Trump added that “with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”

While U.S. officials did not link the decision to Trump’s tweet, they made a point often advanced by him, saying the United States had been UNRWA’s single largest donor for decades.
The United States will withhold $65 million for Palestinian aid paid via the United Nations Relief and Welfare Agency stating that UNRWA needs to make unspecified reforms. The U.S. says it will provide $60 million, 48 percent of the regular payment.