Israel’s ban on UNRWA is not surprising, but appalling

On October 28, the Israeli Knesset voted to ban all activities of, and official contact with, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, to be implemented within three months.

As former United Nations staff, we were appalled but not surprised.

For decades, Israel has been on the warpath against UNRWA and the United Nations as a whole, accusing the multilateral institution and any members who criticize its behavior of anti-Israeli bias. Israel has not complied with UN General Assembly or Security Council resolutions and has ridiculed the decisions and advisory opinions of the International Court of Justice. He has never cooperated with UN human rights ambassadors or commissions of inquiry. Just a month ago, Netanyahu arrogantly called the UN “An antisemitic bile swamp.” In an unprecedented move, Israel even declared the UN secretary-general himself persona non grata.

Israel has long accused UNRWA of perpetuating the plight of Palestinian refugees through the maintenance of refugee camps and the registration process that offers a form of identity and legal status. He seems to arrogantly believe that by banning UNRWA he can get rid of the Palestinian refugee problem as a whole.

But UNRWA does not pursue anything of its own accord. It is simply implementing the authority given to it by the United Nations General Assembly, which created it in 1949 after the new state of Israel refused to allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.

Rather, Palestinians’ statelessness and refugee status are perpetuated by Israel’s occupation of what remains of Palestine and the ongoing displacement of the Palestinian people today in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

Gaza is a refugee ghetto: more than 70% of the total population of approximately two million Palestinians are registered refugees; approximately 1.5 million of them. This was not the first time Hamas and Israel clashed, but it was by far the most brutal against civilians. In quieter times, UNRWA’s 14,000 staff in Gaza run schools, hospitals, training centers and outreach services.

In emergencies, as now, they are a lifeline in the provision and distribution of essential aid. Last year, nearly 44,000 Gazans were killed and thousands more buried under rubble, while thousands more were left maimed, starving and homeless. UNRWA’s schools and warehouses became temporary shelters. Horrifyingly, 70 percent of these shelters were bombed, filling almost all with desperate families. No other organization has built the infrastructure and personnel capacity to handle even the small amount of aid Israel allows into Gaza; This aid is already not enough to eliminate hunger and disease.

Israel has never been held accountable for its degrading treatment of the UN and its disregard for civilian life. As of December 2023, USA used its veto power 45 times To protect Israel and shield it from accountability for violations of international law and the UN Charter. This gave it the authority to act with impunity and brute force, in defiance of human rights or humanitarian law, let alone its obligations as a member state of the United Nations. If these recently passed bills are implemented after the planned 90 days, then Israel’s membership in the United Nations should be considered moot.

UNRWA may well withstand this Israeli measure, but the people of Gaza may not survive and further suffering will be heaped on Palestinians in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

What won’t survive is the United States’ already shattered reputation. Despite its senseless commitment to humanitarian aid and multilateralism, the United States is increasingly isolated as the sole supporter of a brutal regime that cares not a whit about international cooperation.

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