Activists protest against UNRWA outside its offices in Jerusalem, March 27, 2024 [photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90]
In the months after the Hamas attack that saw 1,200 people killed (with a still unknown number by Israeli counter-fire)
and 255 taken back to Gaza as hostages, the Israeli government accused
some of UNRWA’s employees of collaborating with Hamas in the attack. The
claim was devastating and led to the United States freezing funding for
the agency, with 17 other countries joining the Americans in suspending
their support just as UNRWA was grappling with the massive humanitarian
crisis, the worst in its history, that the war was creating. With the
exception of the US - which provided roughly 30 % of the UNRWA budget in
2023 and historically was its biggest donor - every other country that had halted funding resumed its support once a UN investigation found that Israeli authorities had not provided “any supportive evidence” to back up its allegations of UNRWA links to Hamas.
The Netanyahu government’s efforts to evict UNRWA if successful would
further worsen the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza with the
potential to cause a second catastrophe in the already besieged Occupied
West Bank. In Gaza UNRWA would be unable to provide shelter, food, and
healthcare to people in need. Children there would lose their chance of
ever returning to school. "It is part of a broader campaign to dismantle
the Agency, seeks to strip Palestinians from their refugee status, and
change – unilaterally – the parameters for a future political solution,”
said
UNRWA’s head Philippe Lazzarini in a UN Security Council briefing. But
even with these efforts to dismantle UNRWA, the right of return for
Palestinian refugees is still enshrined in international law, including
UN Resolution 194.
The legislation also hamstrings UNRWA’s ability to provide services. For example, UNRWA is currently a key part of the ongoing
vaccination campaign amid the polio epidemic in Gaza. Should the
legislation become law Israel, as the occupying force, would be
responsible for the remainder of the campaign something it is highly
unlikely the IDF would undertake.
More generally, the legislation would set a dangerous precedent for
international law, as it violates Israel’s obligation under the UN
Charter to which it is a member state. In other conflicts governments
may cite the Israel precedent and call to eliminate any UN presence that
proves to be against their interests further weakening the
organisation.
The Knesset winter session begins on 28 October where it is
anticipated the bills will become law with consequences that will
further immiserate the Palestinian people as Israel continues to show
its disdain for international norms and the rule of law.
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