Tell your politicians: Israel must NOT ban UNRWA

On January 30, two new Israeli laws, passed on October 28^th are due to go into effect to ban the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from operating in areas “under Israel’s control”.

At the end of October as Israel was about to vote, the Foreign Secretaries of seven countries – including the UK issued a joint statement  expressing grave concern at Israel revoking the privileges of UNRWA that forbids “any contact between Israeli state entities, officials and UNRWA, and prohibiting any UNRWA presence within Israel.”

It is important to note that this will also mean closure of UNWRA offices in East Jerusalem, illegally annexed by Israel in 1967, where their operations for the West Bank are based.  Logically the ban would mean UNWRA cannot access Israel’s roads to carry vital aid into Gaza.

The statement urges “the Israeli Government to abide by its international obligations, (our emph Ed), keep the reserve privileges and immunities of UNRWA 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 statement, however, there seems to have been little done and it has barely been on the news agenda since the legislation was passed in late October.

We urge everyone to write to their political representatives and ask that they put pressure on Israel NOT to implement the legislation reminding them, as in the statement, signed by the UK and other governments 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.”

The Head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini said “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.”

Today (January 4^th 2025) the UN made it clear that “the United Nations does not plan to replace the agency in the Palestinian territories, and the Knesset must reverse its decision to ban it.”

Additionally, an UNRWA spokeswoman denied a report in the New York Times to the effect that UN officials had said they were preparing to shutter UNRWA operations in both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Additional points that could also be made to your government representatives:

Since October 7^th 2023, UNRWA health teams have provided millions of consultations vaccinated 560,000 children against polio, provided food assistance to almost 2 million people and provided shelter to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

• 388,000 families have received flour at least twice.
• 1.46 millions have received UNRWA food parcels
• 97 mobile medical teams have covered medical points
• 196,245 displaced people have received community social work support including psychological first aid and psychological support.
• 129,475 displaced people have received internal community social network support.
• 7.753 people with disabilities or injuries have received assistive devices and rehabilitation
• The allegations of large numbers of Hamas operatives being UNWRA workers have come with little evidence to the International community

Postscript 1: Israel’s “justification” for banning UNRWA

 Here the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs repeats the  allegations of UNRWA support for Hamas and also heavily criticises UNRWA for failing to have already started to dismantle its operations, writes about UNRWA’s Refusal to Accept Israeli Sovereignty Will Harm the Palestinians.

Postscript 2: Detailed response to Israel’s programme of Misinformation and Disinformation about UNRWA

UNRWA: Claims Versus Facts | UNRWA

Postscript 3: Avoiding colonial erasure of the Palestinian refugee community

UNRWA has already removed thousands of hard copies of key registration documents dating back to 1948 from its Gaza headquarters during the current fighting, and also from the West Bank to Amman. The agency’s registration database is now fully digitised and stored in safe cyberspaces around the world.

The preservation of this backbone of refugee culture and identity will be a source of collective comfort to a scattered people, facing what the UN rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, describes as “colonial erasure”.  Not least because it is now impossible for Israel to destroy this precious database, which will assume a pivotal significance if refugees decide to claim their right of return, restitution and compensation from Israel, to which they are entitled under international law as affirmed by UN General Assembly resolution 194.

Even if this isn’t feasible immediately, UNRWA’s now fully digitised database is keeping an ongoing account.