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    • UNRWA must go. How to fill the void?
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    UNRWA must go. How to fill the void?

    Umito Posted on

    In 1967, after the Six Day WarIsrael has expressed its willingness to cooperate with the United Nations Relief Agency (UNRWA) and has done so for 60 years. But today, Israel has finally had enough.

    At the start of the Six Day War, UNRWA and Israel exchanged letters agreeing to cooperate, leading the Knesset to pass legislation covering UNRWA protection, travel and diplomatic immunity.

    Fast forward to November 4, 2024: the Israeli Foreign Ministry officially informed the United Nations that it was ending its cooperation with UNRWA.

    The move comes a week after the Knesset passed a law banning official contacts between UNRWA and the state. Israel has now passed a second bill that revokes the 1967 agreement established by the exchange of letters between UNRWA and Israel. In these letters, Israel made clear that this was an interim agreement “which will remain in force until replaced or canceled.”

    And now Israel has decided to cancel.

    THE INSCRIPTION on the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City is damaged amid the ongoing war. According to the writer: This UN agency deserves every sanction – it is corrupt, its actions encouraged terrorism and some of its employees were directly involved in the October 7 attacks. However, it provides health, education, etc. (credit: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)

    Some say it was a mistake for Israel to cut ties with UNRWA without offering alternatives. Critics say the end of cooperation with UNRWA pulls the rug out from under millions of beneficiaries who depend on the agency’s aid. They argue that the move risks sowing unrest among Palestinians, worsening the economic crisis in the West Bank and intensifying the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

    However, the reality is that the problems with UNRWA are no longer something Israel can ignore. Although UNRWA is technically an offshoot of the United Nations, it functions largely as a Palestinian organization, infiltrated and compromised by Hamas. The United Nations has done nothing to resolve these problems. UNRWA’s problems are wide-ranging, including its employment of known Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives.

    UNRWA promotes radical and unrealistic discourse

    Even before that, UNRWA was known for promoting radical and unrealistic Palestinian narratives that undermined Israel’s legitimacy. Thanks to UNRWA, Palestinians were led to believe that their home was not Gaza but Tel Aviv and all corners of present-day Israel. UNRWA perpetuated Palestinian refugee status, fostering the belief that only as refugees could they and their descendants be able to return to Israel and dismantle the Jewish state.

    This alone should have been enough to raise serious concerns. However, the world has turned a blind eye to the hatred and incitement found in UNRWA’s educational materials and among its teaching staff.

    Last week, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel confronted UNRWA staff during his visit to Ramallah and condemned the glorification of terrorism in their school textbooks, saying: “UNRWA is not neutral s ‘they teach that’.

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    Finally, Israel cannot, in good conscience, ignore the fact that some UNRWA employees actively participated in the October 7 attacksincluding murdering and kidnapping civilians and even holding hostages in their homes. Meanwhile, the United Nations has done nothing to hold the agency accountable.

    UNRWA must go

    UNRWA must go. Israel cannot work with an organization that facilitates Hamas activities, aids and abets terrorism, and provides shelter to those who hold civilians hostage. While it is essential for Israel to develop an alternative strategic plan for the Palestinians to prevent regional instability and security problems, Israel has every right to pursue this decision.

    What happens next? The UNRWA ban will come into force in three months. This gives Israel sufficient time to develop a strategic plan in collaboration with other UN agencies and international humanitarian NGOs to facilitate aid to civilians in Gaza.

    There are many opportunities to develop alternatives, but no one should expect Israel to cooperate with organizations compromised by genocidal groups that have openly called for its destruction.

    The writer is a social media activist with over 10 years of experience working for Israeli and Jewish causes and advocacy NGOs. She is co-founder and COO of Social Lite Creative, a digital marketing company specializing in geopolitics.



    Umito
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