The Israeli Parliament (Knesset) has approved with 92 votes in favor and 10 against a law that prohibits in the country the activities of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA, according to its acronym in English) to which the Government accuses of “terrorism” and of being an ally of Hamas. It is the main organization that serves the Palestinians on a humanitarian level, something that has become increasingly necessary as the current war has progressed, in which 220 agency employees have died in Gaza during the Israeli military operation.
The Israeli Government, which has been carrying out a campaign against UNRWA for months, according to its officials, has not proposed, however, any alternative that could replace the work of this institution that has 13,000 employees in the Strip, where they have died in the war that began more than a year ago more than 43,000 people.
Parliament voted this Monday, and very comfortably approved two bills. One to end the agency’s activities in Israel and, de factoalso in occupied Palestine. And another, by 87 in favor and 9 against, to end the exemptions granted to the agency, including tax exemptions, and its immunity status. The law gives Israel three months to find a way to fill those functions. Both regulations have passed in the middle of a bitter session during which hundreds of people have demonstrated outside the parliamentary headquarters against the initiatives finally carried out.
This is an unprecedented measure in the form of “collective punishment” against the Palestinians, in addition to going against the United Nations Charter and violating Israel’s obligations under international law, according to a statement from the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini. “This is the latest step in an ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role in providing humanitarian assistance and services to Palestinian refugees,” it adds. The two laws endanger, among other things, the education of 650,000 children, but they will not end the status of refugees, he clarifies, which depends on the UN General Assembly.
Criticism from the West
The president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, considers the issue of UNRWA and refugees “a red line,” according to a statement from the official Palestinian agency Wafa. The move planned by the Israeli authorities had already been jointly criticized by the foreign ministers of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea.
These laws pose “a serious threat” to Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and “violate several obligations under international law” and “the provisional measures of the International Criminal Court in the case of genocide,” notes the Israeli human rights NGO Adalah, which has sent a letter alerting the attorney general and Parliament of this.
In the most serious warning issued to its ally in the entire war, the United States sent a letter to the Government of Israel in mid-October in which it gave it a month to allow the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza if it wanted to continue receiving arms support for a conflict that has already caused the death of more than 43,000 people in the Strip. The letter also expressed concern about the Israeli campaign to end UNRWA.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has been operating since 1950, after the war that led to the birth of the State of Israel in 1948, with the forced displacement and expulsion from their lands of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of historic Palestine. This entity is the main organization that serves the population hardest hit by the current conflict, that of Gaza, shaken by the Israeli decision to prevent the essentials for daily life such as food, water, medicines and others from reaching the Palestinian enclave. many basic products.
In parallel, Israel carries out what UN officials consider a campaign of harassment and discredit that advocates the disappearance of this institution, which it accuses of “terrorism” and of participating alongside Hamas in the massacre that cost lives. to about 1,200 people on October 7, 2023. The last time the Jewish State has made such an accusation was last week. The army confirmed having killed Mohamed Abu Attawi in Gaza, whom it blames for belonging to Hamas’s elite corps and playing an important role in that attack, in addition to being an employee of the UN agency. A UNRWA spokesperson said they had previously requested more information from Israel so they could take action against him and had not received it.
Israeli aircraft have killed hundreds of people in their bombings on UNRWA schools in the Strip, which have become shelters for thousands of displaced people. The military consistently claims that these facilities house Hamas command centers or locations from which attacks are prepared or carried out.
The agency had to close its offices in East Jerusalem in May after an arson attack that took place after numerous violent acts over months by Israeli citizens. “There is no place for the enemy in our holy city,” wrote the city’s vice mayor, Arieh King, on his profile on the social network X (on Twitter). King is identified by the United Nations as the instigator of the attacks and threats, sometimes even involving firearms.
UNRWA maintains a total of 33,000 employees, of which 13,000 are in Gaza and 3,700 in the occupied West Bank. They also operate in East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, where thousands of Palestinian refugees remain. Lazzarini denounced last month after the murder of six workers in an Israeli bombing of a UN school, “endless and senseless killings, day after day.” At the same time, he recalled that these employees were providing “support to families who had sought refuge at the school.” “Humanitarian staff, facilities and operations have been flagrantly and relentlessly ignored since the start of the war,” Lazzarini added.
