A damaged wall bearing the UNRWA logo at a camp for displaced people in Rafah, southern Gaza. AFP
A damaged wall bearing the UNRWA logo at a camp for displaced people in Rafah, southern Gaza. AFP
A damaged wall bearing the UNRWA logo at a camp for displaced people in Rafah, southern Gaza. AFP
A damaged wall bearing the UNRWA logo at a camp for displaced people in Rafah, southern Gaza. AFP

More than 120 countries express alarm over Israeli actions against UNRWA


Adla Massoud
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More than 120 countries have expressed alarm over Israeli actions against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which have included draft legislation in the nation's parliament that could disrupt its operations.

The signatories, including the UAE, the UK, France, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar, warned of serious humanitarian, political and security risks if UNRWA's operations were interrupted or suspended, and reaffirmed their commitment to support the agency's ability to fulfil its mandate.

“UNRWA’s role is indispensable and irreplaceable. It is the cornerstone and backbone of humanitarian assistance to generations of Palestinian refugees through the provision of essential education, health, relief and social services programmes and emergency assistance in the occupied Palestinian territory, Jordan, Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic,” the nations said in a joint statement issued on Thursday.

Israel's parliament last week approved two bills aimed at ending UNRWA's work and privileges in the country. The first prohibits the UN agency from operating any institutions, providing services or conducting activities.

The second sets the expiration date of the treaty between Israel and UNRWA – first signed after the Arab-Israeli war in 1967 – as October 7, 2024, or on the bill's final approval. It also bans Israeli government agencies from contacting UNRWA, while stripping the agency's workers of the immunity and special rights granted to other UN personnel in Israel.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said this week that the agency is close to a possible breaking point for its operations in the Gaza Strip due to increasingly complicated conditions.

“I will not hide the fact that we might reach a point that we won't be able any more to operate,” he told journalists at a news conference in Berlin. “We are very near to a possible breaking point. When will it be? I don't know. But we are very near of that.”

He said the agency was facing a combination of a financial and political threats to its existence, in addition to difficulties in day-to-day operations, as aid is even more desperately needed against the threat of disease and famine.

Palestine's UN representative Riyad Mansour told reporters on Friday that the Arab group raised the issue of UNRWA and are "working very, very hard in order not to allow this dangerous piece of legislation in the Israeli Knesset, to put [us] out of business. UNRWA is the most successful story of the United Nations since its inception. It is the shining example of the success of multilateralism."

The biog

Place of birth: Kalba

Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren

Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken

Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah

Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”

Federer's 19 grand slam titles

Australian Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Marat Safin; 2006 bt Marcos Baghdatis; 2007 bt Fernando Gonzalez; 2010 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Rafael Nadal

French Open (1 title) - 2009 bt Robin Soderling

Wimbledon (8 titles) - 2003 bt Mark Philippoussis; 2004 bt Andy Roddick; 2005 bt Andy Roddick; 2006 bt Rafael Nadal; 2007 bt Rafael Nadal; 2009 bt Andy Roddick; 2012 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Marin Cilic

US Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Lleyton Hewitt; 2005 bt Andre Agassi; 2006 bt Andy Roddick; 2007 bt Novak Djokovic; 2008 bt Andy Murray

Updated: October 19, 2024, 2:18 PM`