Palestinians slam reported US plan to weaken refugee agency

Ramallah — Palestinians have denounced reported US attempts to undercut a UN agency that serves several million Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

The US-based Foreign Policy magazine has reported that Jared Kushner, Mideast adviser to President Donald Trump, called in an email this year for a "sincere effort to disrupt" the agency.

In previous US-led negotiations, the fate of Palestinian refugees and contested Jerusalem were to be settled in a peace deal. Palestinian officials now fear that the Trump administration is moving unilaterally to settle these issues in Israel's favor.

Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, alleged Sunday that the Trump administration is "pushing to impose facts on the ground, by realising all of Israel's demands".

Abbas' office said Saturday it would "foil conspiracies to end the Palestinian cause".