This commentary prepared by the editorial team of commonspace.eu was first published on the electronic newsletter Arabia Concise on 30 January 2024.
The news from the Middle East ever since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October has been a series of depressing stories, one worse than the other. After the killing of hundreds of Israelis in the original Hamas attack, there followed the carnage in Gaza, in which, up to now, more than 26,000 Palestinians were killed; thousands more injured and hundreds of thousands displaced. In other incidents across the region, there have been other casualties. The killing of three American soldiers at their base in Jordan this week threatens to further escalate an already explosive situation
On Friday, the International Court of Justice issued a ruling ordering Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza. The court did not order an end to the Israeli military offensive that has laid waste to the Palestinian enclave but the ruling will keep Israel under the legal lens for years to come. The court’s half-dozen orders will be difficult to achieve without some sort of cease-fire or pause in the fighting. “The court is acutely aware of the extent of the human tragedy that is unfolding in the region and is deeply concerned about the continuing loss of life and human suffering,” court President Joan E. Donoghue said.
That ruling gave hope for some humanitarian respite, but one development in the last days has caused grave concern among the humanitarian community. Israeli intelligence compiled a dossier that alleges that 190 members of staff of the UN agency responsible for humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territories, UNRWA were somehow involved with the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The report alleges that some staff took part in abductions and killings during the October 7 raid that sparked the Gaza war.
According to the Reuters news agency who have seen the six-page dossier, Israeli intelligence alleges that some 190 UNRWA employees, including teachers, have doubled as Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants. It has names and pictures for 11 of them. The Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA, which says it has fired some staffers and is investigating the allegations.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Palestine War and subsequent conflicts, as well as their descendants, including legally adopted children. As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees.
As a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly, UNRWA's mandate is subject to periodic renewal every three years; it has consistently been extended since its founding, most recently until 30 June 2026.
UNRWA employs over 30,000 people, most of them Palestinian refugees, and a small number of international staff. It has a budget of nearly a billion USD
Originally intended to provide employment and direct relief, its mandate has broadened to include providing education, health care, and social services to its target population. UNRWA operates in five areas: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Even before the start of the Gaza War, millions of Palestinians depended on UNRWA. In Gaza in the last months, the agency has been an indispensable lifeline.
In the Gaza Strip UNRWA employs around 13,000 Palestinians in all kinds of different jobs, including in doing manual tasks, as well as teaching. These people do not come from a vacuum – they are representative of the wider community in Gaza that has been for decades under immense pressure and psychological stress in what has been rightly termed as the world’s largest prison. It is disingenuous to think that when they enter UNRWA’s compounds the Palestinians working for the agency somehow become detached from the reality that surrounds them every day. Sympathy for Hamas, which in Gaza is a mainstream political movement (and de facto-government) should not exclude a Palestinian from having a job with UNRWA; participating or abetting a terrorist acts against civilians, as was the case with the 7 October attack, must.
There is, therefore, no doubt that the UN leadership need to take the Israeli accusations seriously; it must flash out any bad apples amongst the many, and restore the reputation of the organisation for professionalism.
But the knee-jerk reaction of several Western governments in suspending funding to UNRWA is unacceptable, especially given the dire situation of millions of Palestinians, made much worse by the recent war in Gaza. Stopping the work of UNRWA will make an already significant humanitarian disaster much worse.
In this regard, countries like Norway and Spain are to be commended. They kept a cool head and reiterated their commitment and support to UNRWA, whilst others were more hasty in halting or suspending support for the agency.
There are two problems here: financial and political. The financial aspect is solvable. Gulf states need to step in and compensate for any shortfall in UNRWA’s budget. Other countries need also to step up. But the bigger problem is political. The support of Western countries for UNRWA gives it the necessary prestige that allows its leadership to negotiate the stormy waters of the Middle East. This should not be lost. Countries like UK, Netherlands, Germany and Italy, need to quickly reconsider their position and restore the funding to UNRWA.
UNRWA was established in 1948 as a temporary measure to provide relief to the Palestinian people. That seventy-five years later it is still needed more than ever is a testimony of the failure of the international community to do justice to the Palestinians. From the tragedy and suffering of the last five months a new reality must emerge that must necessarily include the creation of a viable Palestinian state. It is time for the EU and European countries in particular, but also the US, to think strategically and act firmly.
This is a commentary prepared by the editorial team of commonspace.eu
