UNRWA

Israel parliament votes to label UN relief agency a terror organisation

July 22, 2024 

Palestinians and UN workers examine the destroyed makeshift tents and shelters after Israeli attack hits a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) school, killing and injuring many in Nuseirat Refugee Camp of Deir al-Balah, Gaza on July 15, 2024. [Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency]


The Israeli parliament gave preliminary approval on Monday to a bill that declares the main United Nations relief organisation for Palestinians a terrorist organisation and proposes to sever relations with the body, Reuters reports.

The vote against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) is the latest step in an Israeli push against the Agency, which Israeli leaders have accused of collaborating with the Hamas Movement in Gaza.

The bill was approved in a first reading and will be returned to the foreign affairs and defence committee for further deliberation, the Knesset information service said.

The bill’s sponsor, Yulia Malinovsky, was quoted as describing UNRWA as a “fifth column within Israel”.

UNRWA provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It has long had tense relations with Israel but relations have deteriorated sharply since the start of the war in Gaza and Israel has called repeatedly for UNRWA to be disbanded.

“It’s another attempt in a wider campaign to dismantle the Agency,” UNRWA spokesperson, Juliette Touma, said. “Such steps are unheard of in the history of the United Nations.”

Israel has said hundreds of UNRWA staff are members of terrorist groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but has yet to provide evidence to a UN-appointed review.

Israel has repeatedly equated UNRWA staff with Hamas members in efforts to discredit them, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency to have a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary. Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership of the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.

Several donor countries halted funding to UNRWA following the Israeli accusations but many have since reversed the decision, including Britain, which said last week it would resume funding.

Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli vote, and Hussein Al-Sheikh, a senior ally of Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, called on the international community to resist attempts to dissolve the Agency.