The Israeli Parliament approved this Monday a bill to ban UNRWA activitythe Agency UN for Palestine refugees, throughout its territory. The project has been approved with the support of 92 deputies, both from the Government and the opposition.
With this, this bill, promoted by deputies Yulia Malinovsky, Dan Illouz and Boaz Bismuth, would effectively prevent the organization from operating in Israeli territory. by revoking a 1967 text which served as the basis for their activities.
On July 22, legislators took the first step, approving this project in a first reading. This was intended to prohibit their activities in Israel, to strip personnel of their immunities and privileges, and declare it a “terrorist organization.” Thus, after a break of several months, Israel has approved this project again and has justified these laws by ensuring that some 2,100 UNRWA employees belong to the Islamist organization Hamas.
Last January, Israel also accused 12 of the more than 30,000 workers of the agency actively participate in the October 7 attacksto which UNRWA immediately responded by opening an internal investigation and firing them. Given this scenario, in mid-April, the external investigation headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna ruled out that the Israeli authorities would provide evidence that would prove the alleged terrorist links attributed to several of the agency’s employees.
A few weeks ago, the secretary general of United Nations, Antonio Guterresspoke out against it and asked the Israeli Parliament to annul the procedure, reminding Israel the unprecedented phenomenon that the ban would entail of the local activities of a UN agency by a member state. Likewise, the foreign ministers of seven countries, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Canada, had unanimously asked the Israeli Parliament not to approve the project.
Borrell asks Israel to reconsider
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrellhas asked Israel this Monday to “reconsider” its decision: “We urge the Israeli authorities to reconsider to avoid interruptions in the vital services of UNRWA and ensure UNRWA’s continued and unimpeded humanitarian access to the Palestinian refugees for whom it was created.
In a statement, the head of European diplomacy defends that these laws are in “clear contradiction” with international law and “the fundamental humanitarian principle of humanity”as well as that they will only serve to aggravate “the already serious humanitarian crisis” by endangering the “essential services” deployed by UNRWA.
“If adopted, these laws will have far-reaching consequences, making it impossible ‘de facto’ UNRWA’s vital operations in Gazaseriously hampering UNRWA’s provision of social, educational and health services in the occupied West Bank and revoking UNRWA’s diplomatic privileges and immunities in Israel,” he argues.
To this he adds that the laws “may involve non-compliance with the precautionary measures” ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is why he requires the Israeli authorities that ensure the agency “can continue its essential work” in line with its mandate. “Millions of lives are potentially at stake and these obligations can no longer be ignored,” stressed the EU high representative.
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