With only two days before Israel bans operations of UNRWA, the U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees, Pakistan has warned that the move would cripple humanitarian work in war-shattered Gaza and undermine the ceasefire in the enclave.
“For over seven decades, UNRWA has been a beacon of hope for millions of Palestinian refugees across the region,” Ambassador Munir Akram, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told 15-member Council’s meeting convened on Tuesday to address the difficult situation that the agency is facing.
With its extensive network of schools, healthcare facilities, and humanitarian services, he said UNRWA remains indispensable in its capacity to provide life-saving assistance, the resumption of education for children and provision of healthcare for the suffering Palestinian, pointing out that it would also be critical for Gaza’s reconstruction.
UNRWA’s viability and survival was being threatened by the implementation of last October’s Israeli legislation banning the agency activities, he Pakistani envoy said, adding that the move violates the UN Charter, international law, and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“Israel has no right as the occupying power to close down any UN facility in particular UNRWA office in East Jerusalem or any other UN international facility established in the Occupied Palestinian Territory under the mandate of the United Nations,” Ambassador Akram said, while expressing “unwavering support” to the agency.
“Israel allegations against UNRWA have not been established,” he said. referring to the report by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who was commissioned by the UN Secretary-General to look into the matter.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani envoy said UNRWA and its “heroic” personnel have continued to operate within Gaza in face of directed attacks against them in which 270 of them perished.
By targeting UNRWA, he said, Israel seeks to dismantle the structures that are critical to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, but also to erode the identity of Palestinian people and the rights they possess.
Israel is obligated under Article 2 (5) of the UN Charter to assist UNRWA in its work, and a General Assembly resolution further underscores this obligation and condemns Israeli measures that obstruct its operations, it was pointed out.
Ambassador Akram voiced Pakistan’s deep concern over these actions and stands in resolute solidarity with the Palestinian people.
He underscored the need to advance an inclusive process to achieve the two state solution as part of resolving the Middle East conflict.
We must resist steps designed to extinguish the Palestinian right to self-determination and statehood; we should instead take steps to make the two-State solution inevitable, the Pakistani envoy added.
Opening the debate, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said the Israeli legislation “makes a mockery of international law” and imposes massive constraints.
UNRWA was formed in the wake of the wars surrounding Israel’s establishment in 1948. Its mandate includes providing food, essential aid, health care, education, shelter and other services to Palestinians around the Middle East who were displaced by that conflict, as well as their descendants.
In a response to Israel’s letter about UNRWA, the U.N. Secretary General, António Guterres, asked Israel to reverse course, said that under international law Israel was obliged to facilitate the work of the agency, not hinder it.
The UN chief said that the premises the aid workers have been ordered to vacate in East Jerusalem are U.N. property that is protected under international law.
At the same time, he said that he took Israeli allegations about ties between UNRWA workers and Hamas very seriously and that he had taken decisive action to address them.
