URGENT: Following ceasefire, Israel’s ban on UNWRA must be stopped

Jan 17, 2025
Palestinian people holding empty bowls try to reach out for food distributed by volunteers at donation point as Israeli attacks Palestinian people holding empty bowls try to reach out for food distributed by volunteers at donation point as Israeli attacks continue in Dair El-Balah, Gaza on January 26, 2024. The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees UNRWA has termed humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip.. Photo by Omar Ashtawy apaimages Dair El-Balah Gaza Strip Palestinian Territory 260124_Dair_EL-Balah_OSH_1_0038 Image: alamy/ xapaimagesxOmarxAshtawyxxapaimagesx

The long-overdue ceasefire in Gaza may be the beginning of a new chapter, and hopefully one that heralds freedom for the people of Palestine. It certainly will provide relief and respite, but we all know that the work of true peace building is only starting and the old work towards justice and liberation continues on just like before. Israel’s extreme apartheid regime and expansion politics still need dismantling and the Palestinian Rights movement will need our constant vigilance and ongoing support. In this light, Jews Against the Occupation ’48 is heeding the global call against Israel’s ban on UNWRA.

If the international community does not interfere immediately, Israel’s ban on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) will go into effect on 30 January.

This ban will completely undermine the delivery of humanitarian aid work and vital services to the people of Gaza, as well as to the Palestinian population in the other unlawfully occupied territories. In fact, the ban is a death sentence to UNWRA and as such fits in with Israel’s illegal extermination and expulsion of the Palestinian people.

Israel’s justification for banning UNWRA is based on a smear campaign aimed at destroying UNWRA altogether. And, in the light of its proven obstruction of aid deliveries to the civilians of Gaza during its relentless onslaught there since October 2023, it is out of the question that Israel can be trusted to provide or allow any viable alternative to UNWRA.

And indeed, the Head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, has said explicitly that “No other UN or NGO does such work” and that “UNRWA can be replaced only through a functioning Palestinian state which would address the plight of Palestine refugees.”

Rightfully, in October 2024, the Australian Government together with the governments of six other countries expressed their grave concern about Israel’s legislation regarding UNWRA, and urged “the Israeli Government to abide by its international obligations, keep the reserve privileges and immunities of UNWRA untouched and live up to its responsibility to facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms as well as the provision of sorely needed basic services to the civilian population.”

Since that time Australia has voted for the UN Resolution supporting “permanent sovereignty” of Palestinians over their natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and for the Syrians in occupied Golan. It would follow that Australia could take firm action to protect UNWRA’s continued existence.

Knowing that without the work of UNRWA, “the provision of such assistance and services, including education, health care, and fuel distribution in Gaza and the West Bank would be severely hampered if not impossible, with devastating consequences on an already critical and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, particularly in northern Gaza” – we urgently call on the Australian Government to turn its aforementioned grave concern and recognition of Palestinian sovereignty into immediate action, by putting severe pressure on Israel not to implement this legislation.

 

For more on this topic, P&I recommends:

UNRWA Closure as Prelude to the Elimination of Palestinians’ Right of Return

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