NICK SCHIFRIN: This weekend, the
White House unveiled the first
half of its Israeli-Palestinian

peace plan, a $50 billion
economic blueprint
designed to double
Palestinian GDP and create

a million jobs, while
not addressing, for now,
their political future.

The report's author, senior
adviser and presidential
son-in-law Jared Kushner,
compared it to the

Marshall Plan that
revitalized Western
Europe after World War II.

JARED KUSHNER, Senior
Presidential Adviser:
This is a similar
notion, where you're not

just giving people a fish,
like we have been doing
here for a long time.

You're teaching them to fish,
and then you're buying them
fishing rods and you're helping

them become something that
will be much more sustainable.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The
response among Palestinians
wasn't enthusiastic.

Protesters demonstrated
across multiple cities.

And Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas
said Palestinians want
a political solution

first, even if he admitted they
also need economic support.

Today, more than a million
Palestinian refugees
live in absolute poverty.

More than 250,000 are unable
to meet basic food needs.

The sole agency dedicated to
assist them is the U.N. Relief
and Works Agency, known as

UNRWA.

The Trump administration has cut
all economic support to UNRWA.

Before the plan's release,
I spoke to Matthias
Schmale, UNRWA's Gaza
director, and Gwyn Lewis,

UNRWA's West Bank director,
and asked why the Palestinian
response, even before the

plan was made public,
was so negative.

GWYN LEWIS, UNRWA Operations
Director, West Bank: Well, I
don't think any Palestinian

would argue with the
fact that West Bank
and Gaza need economic
development and economic

support.

I think that's something
that everybody agrees with.

I think what the Palestinian
community are saying to me --
and the refugees in particular,

because that's whom we work
with -- Is that they want to
be part of the discussion.

They don't want somebody to
come in and decide for them
on their economic future.

The challenge of just looking
at the economics - - and this is
what the Palestinian Authority

has been saying, I think,
very, very publicly
- - is, at what cost?

And if there's not going to
be any political agreement,
economic investment is not going

to suffice.

There is a real interest in
economic investment, but there
needs to be a political process

as well.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And
it has to happen
simultaneously, you think?

GWYN LEWIS: Absolutely, yes.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Matthias Schmale,
let me turn to you and ask about
Jason Greenblatt's criticism

of the agency.

Recently, he was speaking to
the U.N. Security Council.

And this is what he had to say:

JASON GREENBLATT, U.S.
Special Envoy to the Middle
East: UNRWA is a Band-Aid.

And the Palestinians who
deserve -- who use its services
deserve better, much better.

We do not have to wait until a
comprehensive solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict

is in place to
address that fact.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Is
UNRWA a Band-Aid?

Is there an economic plan that
can replace UNRWA, as these
U.S. officials are saying?

MATTHIAS SCHMALE, UNRWA
Operations Director, Gaza:
No, UNRWA is not a Band-Aid.

What we do in Gaza,
where I work, is
provide basic education.

We run 274 schools, which
had 280,000 students in
them in the school year
that has just finished.

I fail to see how providing
basic education to very
marginalized people is Band-Aid.

We run 22 primary health care
centers, which provide one
million consultations over each

three-month period.

Again, I cannot understand
how keeping people
healthy is Band-Aid.

The reason is as -- because
of political failure.

What the refugees need is a
solution, a just solution, in
the form of a country they can

call their own.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And, in Gaza --
the U.N. has warned that Gaza
would be unlivable by 2020,

52 percent unemployment, 67
percent youth unemployment,
13 hours of power cuts every

day.

It seems like the trends are
going in the wrong direction.

How do those get fixed?

MATTHIAS SCHMALE: It's
already unlivable for the 52
percent who are unemployed.

What's livable about living in
a place that's cut off from the
rest of the world, with little

or no chance to
find a decent job?

Now, how can this be fixed?

I think one clear thing
that needs to happen is to
ease or lift the blockade.

You cannot have a thriving
economy in a place
of two million people
that is cut off from

the rest of the world.

And, of course, there also needs
to be good governance inside
Gaza in terms of those people

who control Gaza.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Can Hamas
provide good governance?

MATTHIAS SCHMALE: Well, I think
their track record over the
last 10 years or so is a dismal

one.

So there are many people who are
skeptical that they can do so.

And I'm one of those, who on
behalf of the United Nations,
says we need prepare for and

carry out decent elections.

There were elections
15 years ago or so.

And it's really over time that
elections happen and that proper
alternatives are presented

for people to vote on.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Gwyn Lewis, there
is, of course, a distinction,
not only between Gaza and West

Bank, but also between
the U.S. and Israel.

The U.S. -- the Trump
administration, I should
say, has defunded UNRWA.

Israel, though, has long -- not
necessarily called for UNRWA's
dissolution, but has specific

criticisms of UNRWA, says that
UNRWA politicizes the conflict.

You have heard these
criticisms, especially the
textbooks that are in schools.

And while I was in Gaza during
the war in 2014, seen weapons
stored in UNRWA facilities.

So what's your response
to the Israeli criticisms
of the organization?

GWYN LEWIS: The first one,
the curricula is really -- the
U.N. generally, not just UNRWA,

all of the U.N. uses
the textbooks of the
country of origin.

It's good practice.

So the textbooks that we
use are the Palestinian
Authority textbooks.

Now, we don't just use them.

We monitor them and we
review them before we use
them in the classroom.

So when we find
problematic materials in
our textbooks, we develop
other materials to address

them, or we -- we also train
our teachers on how best to
approach the subjects, so the

children are taught
in a constructive way.

The other issues, when there
have been issues with our
schools -- and there have been a

couple of occasions where we
have found arms in the schools
-- it was UNRWA who flagged

it with the Israeli authorities.

It was UNRWA who asked
Hamas to remove the
weapons from our schools.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Matthias Schmale,
I'm wondering how your reception
has been here in Washington.

What are the U.S. officials
saying to you, and what
are you asking of them?

MATTHIAS SCHMALE: We didn't
come here thinking we will get
checks written anytime soon.

But we see it as important to
maintain this relationship.

The United States is -- consists
of many people, and we shouldn't
just be led by those people

who are currently
running the White House.

And we have met many people
who are very sympathetic to the
plight of Palestine refugees.

And so, yes, the message I will
give them is one of cautious
optimism that, at one point,

we may be able to
rebuild this partnership.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Matthias Schmale,
Gwyn Lewis of UNRWA from
Gaza and the West Bank, thank

you very much.

GWYN LEWIS: Thank you.

MATTHIAS SCHMALE: Thank you.