Israel’s expulsion of UNRWA in violation of international law

Your Royal Highness, Prince Faisal Ben Farhan
  Excellencies,
  The vote by the Knesset against UNRWA this week is outrageous and sets a dangerous precedent.
  It is the latest in an ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role in providing human-development and assistance to Palestine Refugees.
  Israeli government officials have openly called for dismantling UNRWA. They made it an objective of the war in Gaza, in defiance of the General Assembly and Security Council resolutions and of the International Court of Justice, including with a plan to replace UNRWA in East Jerusalem with settlements.
  These bills will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians.
  These bills are not only against UNRWA; they are also against the Palestinians and their aspirations.
  We are witnessing a deliberate attempt to unilaterally shift the long-established parameters for a peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
  The implications for regional stability and international peace and security are immense.
  For decades, Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory have endured the systematic denial of basic rights, segregation, a crippling blockade on Gaza, aggressive settlement expansion in the West Bank, and repeated cycles of conflict.
  Over the past year, the efforts to end the possibility of Palestinian statehood have gained terrible momentum.
  And with that, the prospects for a two-State solution have gradually receded.
  Gaza has been decimated.
  Over forty-three thousand people are reported killed, most of them women and children.
  Almost the entire population has been displaced multiple times.
  Two million people have been trapped in a living hell for more than 12 months.
  Most of them are now squeezed into 10 percent of the Gaza Strip, in intolerable living conditions.
  Meanwhile, in North Gaza, a hundred thousand people are trapped in a complete siege, waiting for death by either an airstrike or starvation.
  Across Gaza, 660,000 children are out of school, living in the rubble.
  Many of them are alone, without any surviving family.
  They are traumatized and deeply vulnerable to exploitation, including recruitment by criminal gangs and armed groups.
  Meanwhile, the occupied West Bank is in the grip of escalating conflict.
  Settler violence and military incursions by the Israeli Security Forces are a daily reality.
  Public infrastructure is destroyed systematically during military operations, inflicting collective punishment on Palestinians.
  The economy is on the verge of collapse, and despair is growing.
  Illegal settlement activity continues in defiance of the rulings of the International Court of Justice.
  What is happening in Gaza and the West Bank is taking us further away from the prospect of peace, co-existence and self-determination.
  Instead, it is leading us down a path that will bring endless war and misery to Israelis and Palestinians for generations to come.

Excellencies,
  For 75 years, UNRWA has been a beacon of hope for Palestine Refugees.
  In anticipation of a just and lasting political solution, UNRWA has worked to give Palestine Refugees a life of dignity premised on access to basic rights, such as education and healthcare.
  We have educated generations of students, many of whom have achieved remarkable success in the region and around the world.
  Countless alumni have told me about the pivotal role that UNRWA education has played in their lives.
  An education that champions human rights and gender equality, and promotes tolerance and respect for cultural diversity.
  You know how highly Palestinians value education – the only asset from which they have not been dispossessed.
  We are now taking the risk of scarifying an entire generation of children across Gaza and in the West Bank.
  For example, failing to bring back 600,000 children to a relatively safe learning environment is to sacrifice an entire generation and will sow the seeds for future hatred and extremism.

Excellencies,
  In times of war, UNRWA has been able to rapidly transform into a humanitarian machine.
  We have seen this in Gaza over the past year.
  Our teachers became shelter managers overnight.
  Our clinics were transformed into emergency rooms amid a near-total collapse of hospitals.
  Most recently, we played a critical role in the successful first phase of an emergency polio vaccination campaign.
  For the past year, UNRWA has been the last remaining lifeline for the population of Gaza.
  Despite this, and perhaps because of it, we have paid a heavy price.
  At least 237 of our colleagues have been killed, many with their families.
  Nearly 200 of our buildings have been damaged or destroyed, killing hundreds of displaced people seeking UN protection.
  Our clearly marked aid convoys have been hit and looted by armed actors.
  Restrictions on the entry of lifesaving supplies into Gaza mean that aid trucks languish at the border, while people starve a few kilometers away.

Excellencies,
  The latest bills passed at the Knesset seek to end contact with the Israeli Authorities, crippling our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory.
  The entire humanitarian response in Gaza, which relies on UNRWA’s infrastructure, is at stake.
  The failure to push back against attempts to intimidate and undermine the United Nations has set a dangerous precedent.
  Look no further than Lebanon and the despicable attacks on UNIFIL.
  Let us be clear:

• First, the attacks on UNRWA are attacks against the broader rule-based system inherited from World War 2 and will weaken our global multilateral system.

• Second, the attacks are politically motivated by the goal of eliminating the status of “Palestine Refugees”. But the refugee status of Palestine Refugees exists independently of UNRWA’s services. The refugees will keep that status until a political solution is at hand.

• And third, the future of Palestine Refugees cannot be decided outside of a political framework. If a UN agency with a General Assembly mandate can collapse because one UN member state is defying the international rules-based order, then what remains standing?

Excellencies,
  I am encouraged by the international commitment to a political solution demonstrated by this conference.
  I sincerely thank His Highness the Foreign Minister for convening it, and for giving UNRWA a prominent platform.
  The two-state solution is the internationally agreed framework.
  UNRWA is an intrinsic part of a successful and fair transition.
  The Agency’s most striking advantage is in education and primary healthcare.
  In the absence of a full-fledged state, only UNRWA can fulfil the learning and healthcare needs of Palestine Refugees.
  I would like to conclude with three requests:
  First, I urge you to use all the political, diplomatic and legal tools at your disposal to reject Israel’s attempts to dismantle UNRWA, sideline the United Nations, and undermine multilateralism. This means that the bills need to be rescinded, or their application be put on hold.
  Second, I ask you to safeguard UNRWA’s role today and during the inevitably long and painful transition between a ceasefire and the “day after”.
  And for this, we will need your political and financial support.
  Finally, through the platform of this Global Alliance, I urge you to determine a viable political path towards a two-state solution, which will finally resolve the plight of Palestine Refugees.
  Until then, I urge you to ensure UNRWA continues its indispensable role towards Palestine Refugees.
  Thank you. •

Source: https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/statement-philippe-lazzarini-commissioner-general-unrwa-high-level-meeting
of 30 October 2024