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Israel’s U.N. aid agency ban will lead to more suffering for Palestinians, chief says

Philippe Lazzarini
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, speaks during a news conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva last month.
(Salvatore Di Nolfi / Associated Press)
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The head of the U.N. agency caring for Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that newly passed Israeli laws effectively banning its activities in Israel will leave a vacuum that will cost more lives and create further instability in Gaza and the West Bank.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, told the Associated Press that the legislation is “ultimately against the Palestinians themselves,” effectively denying them a functioning provider of lifesaving services, education and healthcare.

UNRWA has been the main agency procuring and distributing aid in the Gaza Strip, where almost the entire population of around 2.3 million Palestinians relies on the agency for survival amid Israel’s nearly 13-month-old war with the militant Hamas group.

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Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering in UNRWA-run schools. Other aid groups say the agency’s strong, decades-old infrastructure across Gaza is irreplaceable. So far, Israel has put forward no plan for getting food, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s population in UNRWA’s absence.

Israel alleges that Hamas and other militants have infiltrated UNRWA, using its facilities and taking aid — claims for which it has provided little evidence. The laws, passed by parliament this week, sever all ties with UNRWA and ban its operations in Israel.

Israel’s allegations that 12 employees of a U.N. agency were involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack have led several Western countries to cut off funding.

Jan. 28, 2024

And since the agency’s operations in Gaza and the West Bank must go through Israeli authorities, the laws threaten to close its activities there as well. The laws are expected to come into effect in three months.

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Meanwhile, in the latest cease-fire efforts, the United States and other mediators are ramping up diplomatic talks to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict during the Biden administration’s final months.

Negotiations on both fronts have been stalled for months and none of the warring parties have shown any sign of backing down from their demands.

Senior White House officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein are scheduled to visit Israel on Thursday for more talks on possible cease-fires in Lebanon and Gaza, and the release of hostages held by Hamas. CIA Director William Burns will go to Egypt to discuss those efforts.

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A proposal to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah calls for a two-month cease-fire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the country’s southern border, two other officials familiar with the talks said.

But Israel is unlikely to trust U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops to keep Hezbollah out of a reestablished buffer zone in Lebanon. It wants the freedom to strike the militants if needed. Lebanese officials want a complete withdrawal.

Separately, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have proposed a four-week cease-fire in Gaza during which Hamas would release up to 10 hostages, according to an Egyptian official and a Western diplomat.

The U.N. agency fired nine employees after an investigation but denies it knowingly aids armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants.

Oct. 28, 2024

But Hamas still appears unwilling to release scores of hostages without securing a lasting cease-fire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, even after the killing of its top leader, Yahya Sinwar. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on lasting Israeli control over parts of the territory.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah’s newly chosen leader, Naim Kassem, said the group will not “beg” for a cease-fire. “If the Israelis decide to stop the aggression, we say that we accept, but according to the conditions that we see as suitable,” he said during a televised address.

In the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Lazzarini said that if the Israeli decision on UNRWA is implemented, “this would be a total disaster, it is like throwing [out] the baby with the water.”

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“This would create a vacuum. It would also feed more instability in the West Bank and Gaza,” said Lazzarini, who was attending a conference to discuss the Mideast conflict. “Having UNRWA ending its activities within the three months would also mean more people will die in Gaza.”

He said the agency is looking for “creative ways to keep our operation going.” He appealed for support from the U.N. General Assembly and donors to keep providing services and called on Israel to rescind the decision or extend the three-month grace period. He said Israel has not officially communicated with the agency following the adoption of the laws.

For decades, UNRWA has operated networks of schools, medical facilities and other services around Gaza and the West Bank — as well as in neighboring Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. In Gaza especially, it plays a major role in maintaining social services and the economy, as the territory’s largest single employer and the source of education and healthcare for much of the population.

The Israeli military invites journalists to view tunnels under the main headquarters of UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City.

Feb. 11, 2024

The laws threaten to shut down all those operations, affecting the education and welfare of hundreds of thousands of children well into the future, he said.

“We have today one in two persons in Gaza below the age of 18, among them 650,000 girls and boys living in the rubble, deeply traumatized at the age of primary and secondary school,” he said. “Getting rid of UNRWA is also a way to tell these children that you will have no future. We are just sacrificing your education. Education is the only thing which has never, ever been taken away from the Palestinians.”

UNRWA was established to help the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. It now offers support to the refugees and their descendants, who number some 6 million around the region.

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Lazzarini said the Israeli laws are the “culmination of years of attack against the agency.” He said “the objective is to strip the Palestinian from refugee status.”

International law gives Palestinian refugees and their descendants the right to return to their homes. Israel has refused to allow their return, saying it would end the Jewish majority in the country. Israel has said the refugees should be taken in by their host countries, and officials often argue that UNRWA’s services keep Palestinians’ hopes for return alive.

In a letter to the U.N., Lazzarini said the Israeli laws and campaign against the agency “will not terminate the refugee status of the Palestinians, which exists independently of UNRWA’s services, but will severely harm their lives and future.”

Israel claims hundreds of Palestinian militants work for UNRWA, without providing evidence, and that more than a dozen employees took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that ignited the latest war.

The U.N. says it has fired additional staff members from its agency for Palestinian refugees after an internal investigation found they may have been involved in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack against Israel.

Aug. 5, 2024

The U.N. fired nine staffers after internal investigations found they may have participated in the attack. UNRWA has nearly 30,000 staff members around the region, including 13,000 in Gaza, most of them Palestinians. Israel also says Hamas fighters operate in UNRWA schools and other facilities in Gaza — and has hit many of them with airstrikes.

UNRWA denies knowingly aiding armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants from its ranks.

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Lazzarini said Israel has not responded to inquiries from UNRWA for details about other allegations, including that the agency’s premises are being used by militant groups. With the continued fighting, the agency has been unable to verify the claims, he said, and called for an independent investigation.

At least 237 UNRWA staffers have been killed in the war in Gaza, a toll among U.N. staff not seen in any other conflict. Over 200 UNRWA facilities have been damaged or destroyed, killing more than 560 people sheltering there.

Lazzarini spoke on the sidelines of the conference by the Global Alliance for a Two-State Solution, a Saudi government-created initiative attended by foreign ministers from Arab, Muslim, African and European countries.

“If we want to be successful in any future political transition, we need an agency like UNRWA taking care of education and the primary health of the Palestinian refugees” until there is a viable functioning state or administration to do so, he said.

Anwer and El Deeb write for the Associated Press. El Deeb reported from Beirut.

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