The head of European diplomacy, Joseph Borrellurged Israeli authorities this Saturday to ensure that the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA) can continue to play its role their “crucial” work andn the region and warned of the “disastrous” consequences that the cessation of its activity would have.
“The European Union expresses its deep concern for the UNRWA bill currently being debated in the Israeli Parliament,” the High Representative said in a statement.
The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, gave its approval on October 6 to the implementation of a bill which, if ultimately declared, could lead to the suspension of activities of UNRWA in the country.
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In this sense, Borrell emphasized that the bill, if approved, “would have disastrous consequencespreventing the UN Agency from continuing to provide its services and protection to Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza” and stated that “the EU urges the Israeli authorities to ensure that the UNRWA be allowed to continue doing its work.”
Israel declared in March that “a significant number” of UNRWA workers are “members of terrorist organizations”, although an external investigation found a month later that Israeli authorities had not provided sufficient evidence to prove the alleged links to terrorism.
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According to the statement issued by the European External Action Service (EEAS), the final adoption of the bill “would abrogate the 1967 agreement between Israel and UNRWA, stop all UNRWA operations in Israel and in East Jerusalem, destroy the operations of vital UNRWA facilities in Gaza, seriously hamper the provision of health, education and social services in the West Bank and revoke UNRWA diplomatic privileges and immunities.
UNRWA provides “essential” services to millions of people in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and throughout the region, particularly in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, and “is a pillar of regional stability”, underlined the head of European diplomacy.
“It also plays a critical role in ensuring conditions on the ground for a credible path towards the two-state solution,” he added.
For this reason, Borrell insisted that the EU “is committed to continuing to support the Agency and is closely following the implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Review Group’s report and the decisive measures adopted by the “UN to guarantee neutrality and accountability and strengthen control”. and supervision of the Agency’s operations.
