The international position and confronting the ban on UNRWA

The seriousness of the decision of the occupying power, Israel, which was taken by the Israeli Knesset to ban the activities of UNRWA and prevent it from carrying out its duties, and to evade international obligations towards it, which will have a negative and direct impact on the work of the agency in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as well, and its implementation will lead to the collapse of the system of health, education and relief services provided to refugees, and the expected consequences of this decision on the lives of about 6 million Palestinian refugees, especially since there are more than two million Palestinians in Gaza who have become completely dependent on UNRWA to provide food and aid, in addition to about 300 thousand children who depend on UNRWA to obtain education in the Strip.

The decision itself goes beyond the usual Israeli criminality because it affects the future of millions of Palestinians inside and outside Palestine, and it aims to completely destroy the fabric of Palestinian society, in addition to emptying the refugee issue of its content and accelerating the scenarios of displacement and ethnic cleansing taking place in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

International efforts must be unified to end the war and put an end to the genocide being practiced against the Palestinian people. The focus should be on reaching an agreement to end the war on the Gaza Strip, rather than focusing on banning the agency or finding alternatives to it. Dismantling UNRWA in the absence of a viable alternative will deprive Palestinian children of education, and the children of Gaza are now losing a second year of education, as UNRWA is the only UN agency that provides education directly in its schools. In the West Bank, approximately 50,000 children receive education in these schools.

The seriousness of the current situation must be acknowledged, as must confronting Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA’s work, which aims politically to eliminate the right of Palestinian refugees to return, and also contributes to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories, especially in the Gaza Strip, where more than 70% of the population are refugees, since UNRWA is responsible for providing services in the refugee camps, and is also the entity that carries out the largest part of the relief and humanitarian aspect in the Strip in light of the ongoing war of extermination.

The United Nations must pay attention to the seriousness of these Israeli decisions, which constitute a precedent for the work of UN organizations and agencies. The United Nations must protect these organizations, and the membership of states in the United Nations imposes obligations and responsibilities that Israel wants to evade and avoid the consequences of. Israel must never get away with these decisions, and there is no alternative to UNRWA in providing health and educational services to refugees in its areas of operation, especially since it is the cornerstone of humanitarian work in Gaza, which is facing conditions approaching famine, especially in the northern part of the Strip.

Urgent Arab and international action is necessary to issue a UN resolution that includes a categorical rejection of these unilateral measures taken by the occupying power. There must be comprehensive and broad action at the international level to confront the Israeli decision and explain its dangerous repercussions on security and stability, and to form an international framework to pressure the decision and continue to provide the necessary support to UNRWA to enable it to continue providing the necessary services to Palestinian refugees, until the implementation of UN General Assembly Resolution No. 194 of 1948 on the right of refugees to compensation and return to their homes from which they were displaced.