Israel passes law banning UN agency for Palestinian refugees from working in the country

The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, approved this Monday a bill to impose restrictions on the activity of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Israel, which would directly affect its activity in the Gaza Strip, where the organization is based. Two Provides most humanitarian aid to more than 1 million inhabitants. The text has received the support of 92 delegates from both the ruling coalition and the Israeli opposition; Only ten voted against.

The Israeli parliament resumed its work this Monday after the recess for the Jewish holidays and one of the first texts put to the vote was a bill related to UNRWA, which, in addition to condemning Israel, accused Israel of having ties with the Islamic organization Hamas. Is accused of. That many of its Palestinian employees took part in the October 7, 2023 attacks in the south of the country, which killed more than 1,200 and kidnapped 251. An independent investigation appointed by the United Nations concluded several months earlier that Israel had not presented sufficient evidence to support those allegations.

The law approved this Monday night – which will not yet come into force – will affect all of UNRWA’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territories (West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza), as it prevents its international staff from obtaining visas and local travel permits. will stop the work; In addition to access to its offices, including its headquarters in the eastern part of Jerusalem (captured by Israel in 1980), from where all activities are coordinated.

The law is Tel Aviv’s latest attack against the United Nations, whose representatives and agencies the Israeli executive has openly clashed with since the beginning of the war in Gaza. Recently the Israeli government declared the UN Secretary General ‘persona non grata’ and banned him from entering the country. In addition, the Israeli military has repeatedly attacked UNRWA facilities in Gaza during its offensive against the Strip, where more than 43,000 people have been killed since October last year.

According to a report released by the official Wafa, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has expressed his concern and warned that the UNRWA sanctions cross a “red line” and that any resolution of the conflict “without impartially resolving the refugee issue” There will be no news agency before the approval of the law.

The Palestinian Presidency condemned this as “a violation of international law and an act of provocation to the entire international community”, reminding that UNRWA was established “in accordance with a United Nations resolution”. That 1949 resolution stated that the Agency would provide assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees until a “just and permanent” solution to their situation was found.

In 1948, millions of Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and places of origin following the creation of the State of Israel. Currently, there are approximately six million refugees in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, as well as in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. UNRWA provides education, health care and assistance to these people, as well as managing 58 refugee camps (mostly in Gaza and the West Bank).

The foreign ministers of Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom issued a statement expressing their concern over the bill approved this Monday and another bill on which Parliament will vote. “UNRWA provides humanitarian assistance and essential and critical basic services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and across the region. Without their work, the provision of such assistance and services, including education, health care and fuel distribution, will be seriously disrupted or impossible, with devastating consequences for the already grave and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank, especially in northern Gaza,” he warned on October 26.

The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, also called on Israel to “reconsider” the approval of these laws: “We call on the Israeli authorities to avoid interruptions in UNRWA’s vital services and to guarantee the continuity of UNRWA. Urges to reconsider.” and unhindered humanitarian access to Palestinian refugees, for whom it was built,” he stressed in a statement quoted by Agência EFE.