BarcelonaIsrael takes another step in its defiance of the international community. The country’s parliament, the Knesset, has approved new legislation that prohibits the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) from continuing to operate in territory under Israeli control. The international community has already condemned the move and warned that it sets a dangerous precedent. All in all, with more than 43,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the war and after constant vetoes on the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip by Tel-Aviv.
What is UNRWA?
The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was born in 1948 to assist the 800,000 Palestinians expelled from their land with the creation of the State of Israel. Since then it has provided education, health care, social services and even food to the nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees.
Funded largely by voluntary contributions from UN member states, as well as the United Nations as an institution, it serves the 1.7 million Palestinians registered as refugees in Gaza alone and is in charge of eight camps throughout the Strip In the West Bank it serves 880,000 refugees and manages up to 19 camps, and also has a presence in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Since the outbreak of war in Gaza more than a year ago, however, almost the entire population of the Strip has become dependent on UNRWA for their basic needs.
What has Israel banned?
The Knesset has passed a law banning UNRWA from operating in territories under Israeli control. The new legislation, which was approved by a large majority (92 votes in favor and 10 against), prohibits the agency from carrying out “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel – including East Jerusalem, the The occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip – “neither directly nor indirectly”. The Israeli Parliament has also approved a second law that designates the UN agency as a terrorist organization, and prohibits any relationship between Israeli officials and UNRWA members.
With this law, the agreement between Israel and UNRWA signed in 1967, with which Tel-Aviv undertook to facilitate the work of the agency, which depends on coordination with the Israeli authorities to obtain visas or entry permits.
Tel-Aviv’s argument for pushing ahead with the rule, which will come into force in three months, is that there are UNRWA workers – which employs 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza – involved “in terrorist activities against Israel” and that they “must be held accountable”.
How has the international community reacted?
The international community has raised the cry to heaven in front of a rule that “will deepen the suffering of the Palestinians”, as the director of UNRWA himself, Philippe Lazzarini, has denounced. Condemnations and calls to Tel Aviv to back down have multiplied in the last few hours. The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, has stated that “there is no alternative to UNRWA” because it is the “main means” through which “essential aid” reaches the Palestinian refugees in the occupied territory and has reminded Israel that the measure goes against the law and its international obligations.
At the same time, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has described the Israeli ban as “intolerable” and has warned of the “devastating consequences” it will have for millions of Palestinians. Spain, Slovenia, Ireland and Norway – four countries that have recently recognized the Palestinian state – have issued a joint statement in which they denounce the “dangerous precedent” set by Israel with this decision.
The United States has also spoken out in this regard: “We continue to urge the Israeli government to stop the implementation of this legislation […] We will consider the next steps depending on what happens in the coming days,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
From the United Kingdom, also an ally of Israel, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has shown himself “very concerned” about the ban, and has reminded Israel that it has the obligation to “ensure that the necessary aid reaches the civilians of Gaza”. “Only UNRWA can distribute humanitarian aid at the scale and pace that are needed,” he stressed.
The former director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, has stated that what the Israeli government intends is to deny refugee status to the Palestinians: “Netanyahu has always had a vendetta against UNRWA because, naively, it thinks that if you destroy it, somehow the Palestinian refugees will forget that they are refugees,” he told Al-Jazeera. He also assured that Tel Aviv is carrying out a strategy that consists to “starve” the citizens of Gaza and “make conditions so horrible that Israel finally solves the Palestinian problem.”
