RAMALLAH (Reuters) - A U.S. decision to halt funding to a U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees was a “flagrant assault” against Palestinian people, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday.

“The consecutive American decisions represent a flagrant assault against the Palestinian people and a defiance of U.N. resolutions,” spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah told Reuters. “Such a punishment will not succeed to change the fact that the United States no longer has a role in the region and that it is not a part of the solution.”