JJP lobbies the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office about UNRWA
On 27 January, JJP lobbied the Foreign Office to take robust action, along with other concerned countries, to ensure that Israel does not stop UNRWA from operating unhindered in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Our letter is below:
Andrew Connell 27 January 2024
Deputy Head, MENAD
Dear Mr. Connell,
We are writing about the Israeli ban on UNRWA operating in Israeli territory and preventing Israeli authorities from having any contact with the agency, set to take effect on January 28, and labelling UNRWA as a “terror” group. Since UNRWA operations require liaison with Israeli officials, the ban would effectively prevent UNRWA from operating in Gaza and the West Bank.
UNRWA’s network of staff, medical and logistic capabilities cannot be replicated by other organisations. If the ban goes ahead, delivery of desperately needed food, medical aid and temporary shelters in Gaza would be severely compromised.
Israeli claims that UNRWA allowed Hamas to infiltrate its organisation have already been found to be without merit. In January last year, Israel claimed that 12 UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7th attack. Seventeen donor countries suspended their UNRWA funding, but later reinstated it when Israel failed to provide any credible proof for its claims.
UNRWA has and had careful vetting employment procedures. However, no procedures, however strict, could guarantee that no one could ever slip through the net, considering that UNRWA employs some 13,000 people in Gaza.
The falseness of Israel’s claim is laid bare by the fact that Israeli security agencies are said to be willing for UNRWA’s employees to be managed by other UN agencies in order to allow services to continue. Clearly, they do not think UNRWA is riddled with Hamas operatives.
We believe Israel’s reasons for wanting to ban UNRWA can be found elsewhere. First, the continued existence of UNRWA keeps the Palestinian refugee issue alive. Second, the food aid, logistics, clinics and schools that UNRWA provides in the refugee camps allow the refugees in the OPT to have a bearable life. Some 75% of the population of Gaza and 35% of the population in the West Bank are refugees. Making their lives unliveable would serve Israel’s purpose of ethnically cleansing the Palestinian population of the oPT in order to permit creation of Greater Israel.
We urge the UK, together with other concerned countries, to pressure Israel to allow UNRWA to continue all its operations unhindered. The repeated demarches delivered to Israel by the UK and other governments over the past 20 years that have prevented settlement building in area E1 can serve as a model for action. We further urge the UK to have no truck with American efforts to replace UNRWA, which we believe have more to do with helping Israel achieve its objectives than with helping the Palestinians.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur Goodman
Parliamentary and Diplomatic Officer