Lazzarini warns UNRWA at ‘breaking point’
The UN agency serving Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has reached breaking point due to Israeli calls for its abolition and the associated funding freeze, just when it is needed most, said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, according to the United Nations website.
In a letter addressed to the President of the UN General Assembly, which provides the agency with its mandate, he said the agency’s ability to fulfil that mandate “is now seriously threatened”.
“In just over four months in Gaza there have been more children, more journalists more medical personnel and more UN staff killed than anywhere in the world during a conflict”, he said.
He noted that more than 150 UNRWA premises have been hit by bombardment, killing over 390 and injuring 1,300.
“According to UN experts, famine is imminent”, he reminded.
Highlighting Israel’s allegations in January against 12 UNRWA staffers accusing them of involvement in the Palestinian resistance Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in October7, Lazzarini also reminded that he had immediately dismissed those accused in good faith, yet, “to date, no evidence has been shared by Israel with UNRWA.”
The resulting suspension of aid by 16 donor countries totalling $450 million means that without new funding UNRWA operations across the Middle East will be severely compromised from March.
He said the General Assembly “now faces a fundamental decision”. Either allow UNRWA to be swept aside without political consultation and agreement on the part of Palestinians, or chose to make a moment of crisis a “catalyst for peace.”
“In which case I urge the General Assembly to provide the political support necessary to sustain UNRWA”, or to create a path for UNRWA to “transition immediately into a long-overdue political solution that can bring peace to Palestinians and Israelis.”
If General Assembly members chose to sustain the agency, he called for a change in its funding structure which would end the reliance on voluntary contributions “that make it vulnerable to wider political considerations”.