UNRWA has been serving Palestinian refugees for 70 years in the region

Even with international pressure against the project, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, approved this Monday (28) bills that impede the work of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) within Israel, which should impact the organization’s work in the occupied Palestinian territories.

UNRWA is the main humanitarian agency serving Palestinian refugees and has been operating in the region for 70 years. It employs 20,000 people and provides education, health and social and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in several countries. The legislation passed by the Knesset is expected to make the agency’s work in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank more difficult by prohibiting any contact between Israeli authorities and UNRWA representatives.

The measure was criticized by the head of the organization, Philippe Lazzarini, who stated that the vote violates the UN Charter and Israel’s obligations under international law, being yet another campaign to discredit the agency.

“These bills will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people are going through more than a year of pure hell. This⁠ will deprive more than 650,000 girls and boys of access to education, putting an entire generation of children at risk,” he said on social media.

Lazzarini argued that ending UNRWA cannot take away Palestinians’ refugee status and that this is a status protected by UN General Assembly resolution. “These bills increase the suffering of Palestinians and are nothing more than collective punishment,” he added.

Israel has accused UNRWA of collaborating with Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. These accusations were the main arguments used by legislators to approve the projects. In April this year, an independent report investigated the accusations and stated that Israel did not present evidence that UNRWA officials were involved in Palestinian military activities.

“Israel has made public statements that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations. However, Israel has not yet provided evidence of this”, says the document produced by Frenchwoman Catherine Colonna, former European Minister of Foreign Affairs, in partnership with representatives of human rights institutes from Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Before passage, bills banning UNRWA’s work in Israel were criticized by the foreign ministers of Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

Countries allied with Israel assessed with “grave concern” the measure which, in the view of these governments, will have devastating consequences in an already critical and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation. “Without their work, the provision of such assistance and services, including education, medical care and fuel distribution in Gaza and the West Bank would be severely hampered, if not impossible,” the Canadian government said in a statement, adding that the Israeli government it must “keep UNRWA reserve privileges and immunities intact and fulfill its responsibility to facilitate full, rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian assistance.”

The measure was also criticized by the European Union, which, in a statement, stated that “all UN agencies embody the rules-based international order, as they defend and implement both the letter and the spirit of the UN Charter, which all Member States of the UN must respect”.