Palestinians are preparing for an Israeli ban on UNRWA that will start on Thursday, ending the provision of education, health care and many other services in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and significantly complicating the aid operation in Gaza.
Officials of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees say they have received no information from Israeli authorities about how to continue their services. Visas of UNRWA's international staff expired on Wednesday, and tomorrow the organisation must vacate all its property in East Jerusalem and cease activities, an order that UNRWA said “is in contradiction to international law obligations of UN member states including the State of Israel”.
The concern is that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will be left in the lurch in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the latter of which has been under particular strain due to an economic crisis and rising Israeli military and settler violence since the start of Israel's war on Gaza.
The Knesset passed laws on October 28 last year to halt the organisation’s activities within Israeli-controlled territory and ban the country’s officials and institutions from interacting with it, despite heavy international criticism. The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the UK had released a statement expressing “grave concern” at the legislation.
“In two days, our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory will be crippled, as legislation passed by the Israeli Knesset takes effect,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, said on Tuesday. “At stake is the fate of millions of Palestinians, the ceasefire, and the prospects for a political solution that brings lasting peace and security.”
The drive to get critically needed humanitarian aid into Gaza after a recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is also at risk. Although many UN agencies and aid organisations operate in the strip, UNRWA has unparalleled presence and infrastructure there along with 13,000 staff and 300 premises that make it a key distributor and organiser of humanitarian work.
Despite the fears and the apparent lack of any contingency planning, there is no sign that Israel is reconsidering its move.
UNRWA has long been unpopular in Israel, where it is accused of tolerating anti-Semitic content in school curriculums, being closely linked to Hamas and of perpetuating the refugee status of Palestinians, which many Israelis say makes ending the Israel-Palestine conflict more difficult.
There has been even more hostility since October 7, 2023 with Israel accusing staff members of UNRWA taking part in the Hamas-led attacks and the Israeli army saying it has uncovered Hamas weapons and tunnel entrances at UNRWA centres, including schools.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the Security Council on Tuesday that “Israel remains committed to its commitments under international law”, despite accusations the ban is illegal.
Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Arieh King has announced on X a “celebration ceremony” outside UNRWA’s compound on Thursday.
“You are invited to the celebration ceremony of the initiators of the law against the enemy organisation, the Nazi organisation whose employees were involved in the massacre in the South and the war against [the Israeli military].”
At a leafy UNRWA clinic near Herod’s Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, medical staff buzzed around the small compound next to the Indian Hospice, an 800-year-old institution that remains a rare outpost of calm in the contested city.
They were experiencing a particularly busy day. News of the impending ban prompted locals to book appointments, fearing it might be the last day they could ever use the centre, staff said.
Dr Hamza Jabrin said no one knew what was happening tomorrow. “We treat 150 patients on average every day. So far, at midday, we’ve already had 180,” he said.
Senior staff nurse Manal Khayyat said staff have been told to come to work as usual on the day of the ban.
“The officials told us to come as usual and if they feel safe to do so. We should just all wear our vests,” she explained, pointing to faded purple vests that mark the clinicians as employees of UNRWA.
“If they come and tell us to go home with an official document then we are to go home. I do believe that today is the last day for UNRWA in Jerusalem,” she added.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
HWJN
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Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
WIDE%20VIEW
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months