UNRWA ban would deprive three million Palestinians
This is big news, a development that almost snuck in as the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, went back to session. What this would do is deprive about three million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza from any service provided by UNRWA.
UNRWA provides education, health services and vocational training for Palestinian refugees. It’s a gigantic operation in the Palestinian territory and employs 13,000 people just in Gaza.
Halting this operation means UNRWA won’t be able to bring assistance into Gaza.
UNRWA was created by the UN General Assembly on December 8, 1949, to provide basic support including food, healthcare and education to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees. This was after more than 700,000 Palestinians were forcefully displaced leading up to Israel’s creation in 1948, which Palestinians remember as the Nakba, or “the catastrophe”.
UNRWA supports some six million Palestinian refugees who live within and outside Palestine. It is like a quasi-state providing direct services, such as schools, primary health centres and other social services. It also provides loans to Palestinians.
EU’s top diplomat says banning UNRWA contradicts international law
Josep Borrell said the ban “would de facto render UNRWA’s vital operations in Gaza impossible and seriously hamper its provision of services in the West Bank”.
In a post on X, Borrell said: “This legislation stands in stark contradiction to international law and the fundamental principle of humanity. All UN agencies embody the rules-based international order as they uphold and implement the UN Charter, to which all UN Member States must abide.”
UN Palestinian agency condemns Israel ban as ‘outrageous’
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has condemned Knesset’s approval of a bill banning its work in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, calling the move “outrageous”.
“It’s outrageous that a member state of the United Nations is working to dismantle a UN agency, which also happens to be the largest responder in the humanitarian operation in Gaza,” Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for UNRWA, told AFP news agency.
UNRWA official says Israel’s ban will mean collapse of humanitarian process
The media advisor to UNRWA, Adnan Abu Hasna, said Israel’s decision to ban the organisation will mean the collapse of the humanitarian process as a whole.
Hasna described the decision as an “unprecedented” escalation while speaking to Al Jazeera.
UNRWA chief says Israeli ban ‘will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians’
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the ban on the organisation “will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza”.
In a statement on X, Lazzarini said the Knesset vote was “unprecedented and sets a dangerous precedent”. “It opposes the UN Charter and violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law.”
Lazzarini also said it is the latest step in an ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and de-legitimise its role in providing assistance to Palestinian refugees. He called the laws “nothing less than collective punishment” but said that putting an end to UNRWA and its services would not strip Palestinians of their refugee status.
