Lazzarini: Dismantling UNRWA outside the political process undermines the ceasefire agreement

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini spoke to reporters after Security Council consultations and said that he reminded its members that the ceasefire is only the starting point and that UNRWA stands ready to support the international response by expanding the scope of aid. He said that the agency is also ready to support the reconstruction of Gaza at a later stage by resuming education services and continuing to provide primary health care.

Lazzarini also warned, during closed consultations in the Security Council, that the Knesset legislation regarding ending UNRWA’s work in the occupied Palestinian territory would enter into force in less than two weeks. And he said: “Full implementation (of the legislation) would be disastrous. In Gaza, it would massively weaken the international humanitarian response, worsening already disastrous living conditions.”

At the press conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the UN official said that the Israeli government claims that UNRWA’s services can be transferred to other parties, and stated that the mandate entrusted to the agency and its capabilities to provide services similar to government services to the rest of the population are of a unique nature.

And he said: “UNRWA’s ability to provide education and primary health services directly far exceeds the ability of any other entity. These services, on the ground, can only be transferred to a functioning country, to public institutions.”

He stated that UNRWA employees and services are closely linked to the social fabric in Gaza, and that dismantling the agency will further collapse the social system. Lazzarini said: “Dismantling UNRWA now outside of a political process will undermine the ceasefire agreement, Gaza’s recovery and political transition. In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority has made it clear that it does not have the financial resources or capabilities to compensate for the loss of UNRWA services.”

Lazzarini warned that the “chaotic dismantling” of UNRWA would irreversibly harm the lives and future of the Palestinians and erase their confidence in the international community and any solution it tries to facilitate.

Disinformation campaigns

Philippe Lazzarini reminded the Security Council With the fierce international disinformation campaign against UNRWA. He pointed to the intense pressure exerted by the government of Israel and non-governmental organizations supporting it, targeting governments and parliaments in the agency’s largest donor countries, including through billboards and advertisements on the Google search engine, funded by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Lazzarini drew the attention of Security Council members to the fact that these campaigns endanger the lives of employees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in which 269 UNRWA employees were killed. He stated that these campaigns also create a tolerant environment for harassment directed at agency representatives wherever they are, including in Europe and the United States of America.

As he told reporters, the UNRWA Commissioner-General stressed before the Security Council the need for the ceasefire in Gaza to be followed by a political transition that includes an orderly end to UNRWA’s mandate and the handover of its services to capable Palestinian institutions.

He stated that this is the path that the international coalition to implement the two-state solution, led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the European Commission and the League of Arab States, is now following.

Main demands

Lazzarini noted that some major donors have decided to end or reduce their voluntary contributions to the agency. He called for an urgent increase in financial support for UNRWA and the early disbursement of the funding allocated to it.

The UN official said that he submitted 3 requests to the members of the Security Council and member states:First: Preventing the implementation of Knesset legislation. Secondly, insisting on the political path forward Which clearly defines the role of UNRWA as a provider of basic services, especially education and health care, Finally, a guarantee Doesn’t the financial crisis cause an abrupt end to life-saving work? Which UNRWA does.