Germany says to continue support for UNRWA

By Laith al-Junaidi

AMMAN (AA) – Germany will continue to support UN refugee agency UNRWA, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Sunday.

"We see support for UNRWA as very important and we will continue it," Maas told a press conference in Amman following talks with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman al-Safadi.

Maas said his talks with the Jordanian minister tackled the situation in the Middle East region and current regional tensions.

He said their discussions also dwelt on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"The two-state formula is the only solution" to the decades-long conflict, Maas said.

The top diplomat said Berlin will provide Amman with a $100-million loan.

Al-Safadi, for his part, said Jordan and Germany agree that the two-state solution is the key to solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"Jordan and Germany are partners in supporting UNRWA, which has to continue its role," he said.

UNRWA operates 19 refugee camps in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the number of registered refugees currently stands at more than 828,000.

The agency also runs dozens of refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

The Palestinian leadership accuses the U.S. administration, which halted all funding to UNRWA last year, of seeking to undermine the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in historical Palestine.

Maas' regional tour already took him to Iraq. He is also scheduled to visit Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

The tour comes amid rising tension between the U.S. and Iran since 2017, when Washington withdrew from a landmark nuclear agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 group of nations (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).