“UNRWA is more than just a service provider to Palestinian refugees”

In a school run by UNRWAthe United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, Saleh Mershed stands in line with dozens of displaced Palestinians, waiting to receive an aid package.

For almost a year, he and his family have taken refuge in this school in the incessant Israeli bombings, receiving aid periodically from the UN agency.

“Before the war started, my children attended UNRWA schools in Gaza City. When we had to flee our home at the beginning of the war, we took refuge in one of them. Later, when the Israeli occupation issued evacuation orderswe moved to this UNRWA school in Deir al-Balah.”

Mershed, is a 42 year old father of four children and who has also been receiving medical services from UNRWA. Around the 70% of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are refugees of Palestine but in the current circumstances the entire population receives support from the Agency without distinction.

“My wife gave birth to all our children in UNRWA clinics. Whenever my children get sick, I take them to their clinics so they can receive free treatment.”

Founded in 1949 by the United Nations to provide humanitarian aid and services to Palestine refugees displaced during and after the Nakba (catastrophe), the Agency initially focused on offering urgent help to more than 750,000 Palestinians who were expelled from their homes.

Over time, its mandate expanded to provide various essential services, including food, healthcare, education and social support to refugees in West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. But following recent laws passed by Israel’s Knesset to prohibit the country’s authorities from coordinating with UNRWA, thousands of Palestine refugees in Gaza and the West Bank could see their rights threatened.

“I don’t know what we would do if, for example, UNRWA schools were closed. “I cannot afford to enroll my children in private schools or lose regular food support from UNRWA, which has been a great help to me and my family,” says Mershed, who owned a small business destroyed during an Israeli military attack on Gaza. .

“I opened a women’s clothing store in 2015, investing all my money in it. Despite the severe Israeli siege, it was successful. Many times we were not able to get our products to Gaza due to Israeli restrictions and the blockade, but I managed to keep it operational until 2021,” he adds.

“In May of that year, the Israeli army bombed my store, leaving me without a job or means to support my family. Therefore, the role of UNRWA has become more crucial than ever for me and my family.”

Although Palestine refugees depend largely on the UNRWA services and consider them a crucial partare aware that their closure would mean much more than the mere end of their services.

Hedaya al-Waheidi, a retired UNRWA school director who worked for more than 36 years in UNRWA institutions, says there have always been “efforts to end UNRWA as part of attempts to end the Palestinian refugee cause.”

“A few years ago, amid growing pressure, there were attempts to erase the phrase ‘Palestine refugees’ from posters displaying school names on their exterior walls. We refused to comply at that time and we do not change the signs,” explains Al-Waheidi.

“UNRWA is more than just a service provider to Palestinian refugees. It has a deeper role. As long as UNRWA exists, the cause of Palestinian refugees and the right to return will continue to be recognized internationally. It is the pillar on which Palestine refugees rely, the hope that they do not lose their right.”

UNRWA schools serve about 700,000 Palestinian students, descendants of those who were expelled from their cities and towns in 1948.

“Their schools are distinguished in many ways: teachers receive regular training and professional development courses, students participate in international competitions, and children are offered a range of services beyond education, including medical care as well as support. newspaper on food and clothing,” adds Al-Waheidi.

“I have graduated from 36 generations of UNRWA schools and I have always witnessed the importance of its existence. Restricting their services or ending their work would be a true catastrophe, not only for Palestinian refugees, but for all Palestinians who, directly or indirectly, receive their support.”