UNRWA’s urgent assistance in the Gaza Strip

The situation for the people of Gaza is so disastrous that even the USA recently admonished the Israeli government to avoid civilian casualties and to comply with international law. Vice President Kamala Harris: “Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering, and the images and videos coming from Gaza, are devastating.”¹ Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced Israel’s “Fight until Victory” and, after a few days of ceasefire, continued his massive bombing of the cities and infrastructure also of the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Most of the strip’s residents now live there – if they are still alive – crowded together and under the worst possible conditions. The fact is: It would be easy for Washington to stop the murder, as Israel has been on the US drip for decades.
  Along with the ICRC, UNRWA is the main humanitarian organisation trying to alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza. UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) is the United Nations relief agency for Palestine refugees in the Middle East. According to a 2020 report by the Federal Council, Switzerland has been supporting the UNWRA since its founding in 1949, and in recent years with around 20 million francs per year.² And now, of all times, the Swiss parliamentarians discussed in their winter session (December 4–22, 2023) whether they want to delete the 20 million from the 2024 budget or leave it standing.

“No UN organisation is 
scrutinised as closely as we are”

The report by Swiss diplomat Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General of UNRWA, on 28 November 2023 in “Echo der Zeit” should actually bring everyone to their senses.
  During the ceasefire that lasted several days, UNRWA was able to bring relief supplies to the site. But “La situation est désespérée, the situation is desperate.” He recently visited a UNRWA school in the Gaza Strip, where 35,000 people are currently housed in close quarters: “People lack everything. They lost everything and had to leave everything behind. They have lost their houses and apartments and have lost relatives. They no longer even own a blanket or a mattress. The hygienic conditions are absolutely deplorable. You have to wait for hours to go to the toilet. The people I spoke to repeatedly burst into tears and said they felt completely powerless, impoverished, humiliated. They have the impression that they are stripped from their dignity.”
  Suspicions were also expressed in parliament that Hamas could benefit from UNRWA aid supplies. Philippe Lazzarini clearly rejected this on Radio SRF: “No aid will be diverted from the UNWRA relief supplies.” He made it clear to the USA and various European countries that UNRWA works without intermediaries, that it coordinates the distribution of aid on a daily basis with the Israeli military authorities and discloses in detail where it transports things: “So we are very transparent and we are consistent checked. No UN organization is scrutinized as closely as we are.”³

Quick shot in the National Council 
based on unsubstantiated allegations

Given the current humanitarian plight of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, it would be ill-advised for Switzerland to remove its contribution to UNRWA from the budget. Nevertheless, on 11 December the National Council rejected the 20 million francs budgeted by the Federal Council for 2024 for UNRWA with 116 votes to 78. This was based on an individual application submitted just a few days before. A quick shot to the disadvantage of the suffering civilian population.⁴
  The justification for the application was based primarily on reports from the NGO UN Watch, which has been monitoring the activities of the UN and its organisations from an Israeli perspective since 1993. UN Watch criticises that Israel is often treated unfairly, which violates fundamental principles of the UN Charter.⁵ In this context, UN Watch has been spreading one-sided “reports” about UNRWA for years. They use teachers in their schools who “glorify Hamas terrorists as martyrs or even call for violence against Jews” in class, the applicant quotes in the National Council. Whether and to what extent this accusation is true remains unclear.
  But what’s important now is preventing further mass deaths in the Gaza Strip. Apparently, some people don’t realize that the employees of humanitarian organizations such as UNRWA or the ICRC do not divide people into a friend-enemy schema, but rather that every human life is precious to them. They provide their help neutrally and impartially to the people who need it. This comes at the risk of their own lives: more than 100 UN aid workers have been killed since the start of the war.

Council of States: For Switzerland as 
the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions,
 civilian victims are top priority

Unlike the National Council, three days later a narrow majority of the Council of States (23 against 21, with one abstention) approved the Swiss contribution of 20 million francs to aid for Palestine. Two excerpts from the Council of States debate on 14 December 2023:
  Maya Graf (Green Party Baselland): “Switzerland has an enormous responsibility here. […] This request for a reduction of 20 million francs is based on the allegations against UNRWA that were always in the air but could not be proven. […]
  We are not in a position here and now to really assess all of this, and if there are doubts about it, then those responsible at the FDFA must have the opportunity to comment on it. UNRWA, as you know, is headed by the Swiss Philippe Lazzarini. In recent weeks he has increasingly called for more funding to be made available to UNRWA. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is doing very important work in what we all know is a very, very difficult context; That’s what he has been in the last few weeks with regard to the supply situation for the people in Gaza. Knowing all this, we should proceed cautiously and suspend the decision on the cuts today.”
  Isabelle Chassot (Die Mitte Fribourg): “To be clear: I don’t know whether the allegations of closeness between UNRWA and Hamas are true. But what I know for sure is that what is happening in Gaza today is one of the worst humanitarian crises we have ever experienced, that the needs of the civilian population are immense and that Switzerland, as a depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, bases its policy on international law aligns. For them, civilian victims come first. Switzerland has also been supporting UNRWA for many decades.”⁶ [Translation Current Concerns]

Swiss aid to Palestine comes to a halt

Unfortunately, on 18 December, the National Council went one better and rejected the contribution to UNRWA with 108 votes to 85. The Council of States, on the other hand, remained yes with a clear majority on December 19 (27 yes to 18 no). “We keep fighting!” a Councillor of States responded to my personal call for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. On 20 December the National Council insisted on its No for the third time (110 votes to 84). After the three-fold difference, both councils now approved the proposal of their unification conference by a majority in the final vote on December 21: “The contributions for humanitarian aid for the Middle East will be paid out in tranches. The foreign policy commissions of the Federal Assembly are consulted before payment is made. The Federal Council ensures that the financial resources, including supplementary loans, only benefit the suffering civilian population in the Middle East.” At least it’s a step in the right direction – the perseverance of the fighters for humanity is bearing fruit; some opponents reacted dissatisfied and voted no again.

“We believe the rights of Jews 
and Palestinians go hand-in-hand”

Note on the debate in the Swiss Parliament: If Palestinian teachers in UNRWA schools criticise the hegemonic Israeli policies and the undignified treatment of the Palestinian population – who can blame them? To describe the outcry of those who have been oppressed for decades as “antisemitism” falls short. Antisemitism comes from Europe, not from the Middle East, and involves rejection and hatred of Jewish people. Criticism of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians, however, is not inherently antisemitic. However, it is racist when a member of the Israeli government describes the gagged people in the Gaza Strip as “animals”. It always depends on the context and the wording.
  Our task as citizens of Switzerland – or from wherever – must be to strive for the humane path. This is the path taken, for example, by the Israeli Shai Doron, who is building an indoor swimming pool for the Palestinian population in the middle of Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem – in friendly collaboration with the Palestinian Wasim Elhaj. “Others see problems, I see solutions,” says Doron. “Doron’s foundation worked on the plan for the indoor swimming pool for two years. He collected twenty million dollars in donations, convinced the city administration and received a building permit. In the summer of 2022, the excavators began digging in East Jerusalem in the Beit Hanina district.”⁷
  Finally, I would like to give the floor to the Jewish writers from the USA, who recently issued an appeal to the public: “It is precisely because of the painful history of antisemitism and lessons of Jewish texts that we advocate for the dignity and sovereignty of the Palestinian people. We refuse the false choice between Jewish safety and Palestinian freedom; between Jewish identity and ending the oppression of Palestinians. In fact, we believe the rights of Jews and Palestinians go hand-in-hand. The safety of each people depends on the other’s. We are certainly not the first to say so, and we admire those who have modeled this line of thinking in the wake of so much violence.”⁸  •

¹ “US Vice President Kamala Harris calls for restraint in view of Israeli attacks on Gaza”. Reuters of 2 December 2023.
² “Bundesrat verabschiedet UNRWA-Bericht” (Federal Council adopts UNRWA report). Media release from the Federal Council of 14 October 2020.
³ Kramer, Brigitte. “Gaza-Streifen: bringt die Waffenruhe Erleichterung?” (Gaza Strip: Will the ceasefire bring relief?) Conversation with Philippe Lazzarini. Radio SRF, Echo der Zeit of 28 November 2023.
⁴ 23,041 Voranschlag der Eidgenossenschaft 2024 (Confederation budget for 2024). 202 EDA/A231.0332 Humanitarian actions (UNWRA). Minutes of 11 December 2023
⁵ https://unwatch.org/about-us/mission-history/
⁶ 23.041 Voranschlag der Eidgenossenschaft 2024 (Confederation budget 2024). 202 EDA/A231.0332 Humanitarian actions (UNWRA). Minutes from 14 December 2023
⁷ Wenger, Karin. “Ein Schwimmbad für Palästinenser” (“A swimming pool for Palestinians”), in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from 19 December 2023.
⁸ Excerpt from “A Dangerous Conflation. An open letter from Jewish writers” (https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/a-dangerous-conflation/), see also "Criticising Israel’s policies is not anti-Semitism"