The World - News from July 7, 1988

In a secret exchange with U.N. officials, the State Department made an inquiry into reports that the Palestinian uprising in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip is being financed through a U.N. agency, but the reports were denied “and the case is closed,” two U.S. officials said. While channeling aid to the Palestinians may not be illegal, they said, allowing the U.N. Relief Works Agency to be used that way would upset Israel and, as one of the officials put it, “is not what (the agency) is all about.” The agency distributes assistance to Palestinians living in refugee camps inside the occupied territories. The reports first reached the State Department about a month ago, the officials said.