Harming UNRWA: Collective Punishment of Palestinians by the Knesset

The man has a cheek. After lecturing the Iranians and Lebanese about what (and who) is good for them in terms of rulers and governance (we already know what he thinks about the Palestinians), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is busy further denying access and aid to those in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank. This is part of a bill that would prevent the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from performing its valuable functions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Israeli state’s campaign against UNRWA has been merciless and pathological. Even before last year’s Hamas attacks on October 7, much attention was paid to the fact that the body seemed intent on keeping the horrors of the 1948 displacement alive. Victims, complained the amnesiac guards of the Israeli state, are encouraged by treating the descendants of displaced Palestinians as refugees. Unpleasant memories persisted.

Since then, Israel has continued to slander and smear the organization as a terrorist front that is best dismantled. (The labels are easily interchanged—“Hamas supporter,” “activist,” “terrorist.”) The infamous dossier initially emerged, pointing the finger at 12 people said to have been Hamas collaborators in the October 7 attacks. The UN quickly launched internal investigations. Some people were fired for their alleged involvement in the attacks. Unfortunately, donor funding from sixteen countries amounting to approximately US$450 million has been suspended.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has always tried explain that he was “never informed” or given evidence to support Israel’s accusations. This was all the more curious since the lists of agency employees were provided in advance to both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities. Not once did he have “the slightest concern about the staff we hired.”

In April Lazarini said The UN Security Council said there was “an insidious campaign under way to end UNRWA operations, with serious consequences for peace and security.” Repeatedly, the agency’s requests to deliver aid to northern Gaza were rejected, staff were prohibited from coordinating meetings between humanitarian organizations and Israel, and UNRWA premises and personnel were attacked.

Israel’s campaign to dissuade donor states from restoring funding has proven controversial. Even Great Britain, which has long sympathized with Israel’s accusations, announced this funding will be restored in July. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said UNRWA had taken steps to ensure it met “the highest standards of neutrality.”

In August review findings Accusations against former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, brought forward at the request of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, have been made public. He reaffirmed UNRWA’s role as “indispensable and indispensable” in the absence of a political solution between Israel and the Palestinians, a “key” body that provides “vital humanitarian assistance and basic social services, especially in the areas of health and education, to Palestinian refugees.” in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.”

In identifying eight areas requiring immediate improvement in the area of ​​neutrality (e.g., donor engagement, personnel neutrality, facilities, education, and staff unions), it noted that “Israel has not yet provided corroborating evidence” that agency employees were “members of terrorist organizations “

24 October UNRWA confirmed that one of its employees, Muhammad Abu Attawi, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza, had worked for the agency since July 2022, when he served as Nukhba’s commander in the Hamas Burij battalion. Attawi is alleged to have been involved in the killings and kidnappings of Israelis from a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Reim last October. His name appeared in Israel’s July letter to the agency, which listed 100 names allegedly linked to terrorist groups. But no action was taken against Attawi because the Israelis did not provide UNRWA with evidence. Letter from Lazzarini calling words a request from Juliet Thoma, the agency’s communications director, to “cooperate… by providing more information so he could take action” received “no response.”

Having failed on various fronts in their quest to end the viable existence of UNRWA, Israeli lawmakers are now taking the legislative route to enshrine the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. There are two bills in the Knesset. First, sponsored figures such as Yisrael Beytenu Knesset Member Yulia Malinovskaya and Likud Member Dan Illouz will prohibit government authorities from contacting UNRWA. The second, sponsored by Likud Knesset member Boaz Bismuth, would critically prevent the agency from operating within Israeli territory by canceling the 1967 exchange of notes justifying such activity.

Even self-proclaimed moderates (a relative term) such as former Defense Minister Benny Gantz support these measures. accusing The UN body must become “an inseparable component of the Hamas mechanism – and now is the time to step away from it completely.” This did not improve the situation of refugees, but only perpetuated “their victimization.” It is clear that for Gantz, Israel did not play a central role in creating Palestinian victims at all.

If cooperation between any Israeli authorities and UNRWA is prohibited, work in Gaza and the West Bank will become virtually impossible, mainly because Jerusalem will no longer issue entry permits into the territories or allow any coordination with the Israel Defense Forces.

UN Secretary General Guterres was stunned on two counts. “This would effectively end coordination to protect UN convoys, offices and shelters serving hundreds of thousands of people.” Ambassadors from 123 UN member states echoed the same views, while the Biden administration is powerless warned that the proposed “restrictions would harm humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip at this critical moment” and would also deprive Palestinians of educational and social services in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

In its October 23 statementThe Nordic countries also expressed concern that UNRWA’s mandate to “implement (…) direct relief and works programs” for millions of Palestine refugees, as defined by UN General Assembly Resolution 302(IV), would be scrapped. “In the midst of the ongoing catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, stopping any of the organization’s activities would have a devastating impact on the hundreds of thousands of civilians served by UNRWA.”

The statement goes on to contain a warning. Weakening the refugee agency would create a vacuum that “could well destabilize the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem), Israel and the region as a whole, and could significantly jeopardize prospects for bilateral cooperation.” government decision.”

These concerns hardly matter when compared to the justification for murderous collective punishment that is inflicted on people who are considered dumb serfs and submissive animals rather than sovereign beings with rights and protections. Israel’s efforts to slander and harm UNRWA remain a vital part of this program. Within this organization there exists a repository of deep and disturbing memories that the forces of oppression seek to erase.