The Israeli Knesset last week adopted two bills that will effectively ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from carrying out any activity in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
Simply put, the decision is catastrophic, because UNRWA is the main international body responsible for the welfare of millions of Palestinians throughout the Occupied Territories and much of the region.
Israel followed up its decision by attacking and damaging an UNRWA office in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank. This was the Israeli government’s way of demonstrating its seriousness regarding the matter.
This is not the first time that Israel has pursued an anti-UNRWA agenda and, contrary to claims by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, the decision is not linked to the current genocidal war on Gaza or the unfounded claims that UNRWA supports “terrorism.”
An independent review commissioned by the UN in April revealedthat Israel “made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations,” but that it “has yet to provide supporting evidence of this.”
However, Israel’s claims did a great deal of damage to the organization, as 13 countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, Germany and Italy, withheld badly needed funds that were helping Gaza stave off a horrific famine. Eventually, most of these countries reinstated their financial support, though without apologizing to the Palestinians who were adversely impacted by their unfair initial decisions.
Unrepentant, Israel continued to unleash its relentless war on the organization. “UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable,” Netanyahu said in a statement last week.
The anti-UNRWA rhetoric remains functional for Israel. Amplified by the ever-willing US mainstream media, Israel has managed to keep UNRWA’s name in the news, always associating it with “supporting terrorism.” So, when the Knesset voted for the anti-UNRWA bills, many media outlets conveyed the news as if it was the only rational conclusion to an essentially fabricated story.
Israel’s problem with UNRWA has little to do with the organization itself, but with its underlying political representation as a UN entity whose mission is predicated on providing “assistance and protection to Palestine refugees.”
UNRWA was established in 1949 by UN General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV). It began its operations on May 1, 1950, and, with time, it became central to the survival of a large number of Palestinian refugee communities in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Many have rightly criticized the UN for failing to supplement UNRWA’s humanitarian mandate with a political equivalent that would ultimately help Palestinians achieve their right of return in accordance with UN Resolution 194. For Israel, however, UNRWA remained problematic.
According to Tel Aviv’s thinking, UNRWA’s existence is a constant reminder that there is a distinct group of people called Palestinian refugees. And though UNRWA is not a political organization, the Palestinian refugee crisis and all related UN resolutions that emphasize the “inalienable” rights of these refugees are very political.
Taking advantage of the initial, albeit brief, sympathy with Israel worldwide and the massive campaign of misinformation emanating from Israel and its allies, Netanyahu used the Oct. 7 attacks as an opportunity to further demonize UNRWA. However, his campaign started much earlier.
One key player in the war on UNRWA has been Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump. Kushner, who invested much time in helping Israel, made UNRWA a key point in his plan. He vowed to carry out a “sincere effort to disrupt” the work of the organization, a leaked 2018 email revealed.
Due to international rejection and solidarity, Kushner ultimately failed. Even the withholding of funds by the US administration did not force the organization to shut down, although it did negatively impact the lives of millions of Palestinians.
The ongoing war on Gaza and the push to annex large parts of the West Bank represented a golden opportunity for Netanyahu and his extremist government to increase the pressure on UNRWA. They have been enabled by unconditional US support and the willingness of various Western governments to recklessly act upon Israel’s false claims regarding the UN organization.
By allowing Israel to delegitimize the very organization responsible for enforcing international law, the UN’s crisis becomes much deeper.
An impassioned plea made by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese last week reflected the frustration felt by many UN-affiliated officials regarding the growing irrelevance of the organization. In a speech, Albanese pointed out that, if the UN’s failures continue, it will become “more and more irrelevant to the rest of the world,” especially during these times of turmoil.
This irrelevance is already being felt by millions of Palestinians, mainly in Gaza but also in the West Bank. Though Palestinians continue to withstand and reject and resist Israeli aggression, they are fed up with an international system that seems to offer them only words and little action.
Israel’s banning of UNRWA should represent an opportunity for those concerned about the standing of the UN to remind Israel that member states that have no respect for international law deserve to be delegitimized. This time, words must be accompanied by action. Nothing else will suffice.
