Destroying UNRWA Completes Israel's Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

Israel out to destroy UNRWA, says agency chief
AFP
Sat, February 17, 2024


Philippe Lazzarini has been the commissioner-general of UNRWA since 2020 (Fabrice COFFRINI)

Israel is waging a concerted campaign aimed at destroying UNRWA, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in an interview published Saturday.

Philippe Lazzarini said calls for his resignation were part of the Israeli government's push.

"Right now we are dealing with an expanded, concerted campaign by Israel aimed at destroying UNRWA," he told the Swiss newspaper group Tamedia.

"It is a long-term political goal because it is believed that if the aid agency is abolished, the status of the Palestinian refugees will be resolved once and for all -- and with it, the Right of Return. There is a much larger political goal behind this. 

[Iznogood: By ending UNRWA, Israel hopes to terminate the Palestinian refugees Right of Return that is enshrined in every UN resolution since the creation of the colony of Israel in Palestine. Ultimately, if UNRWA is destroyed, Palestinians will no longer be able to claim Palestine as their homeland, and therefore Israel would have killed Palestine once and for all.]

"Just look at the number of actions Israel is taking against UNRWA," the main aid body in the Gaza Strip, he said.

He cited measures in the Israeli parliament, moves to remove the agency's VAT exemption and orders for contractors at Israel's port of Ashdod to "stop handling certain food deliveries for UNRWA".

"And all these demands come from the government." [Iznogood: Including the fake accusations that UNRWA members are accomplices in the Hamas attack]

Furthermore, Lazzarini says more than 150 UNRWA installations have been hit since the Gaza war began.

Israel has called for Lazzarini to step down following claims that a Hamas tunnel had been discovered under its evacuated Gaza City headquarters. Lazzarini said the tunnel was 20 metres below ground and UNRWA as a humanitarian organisation did not have the capabilities to be examining what was underground in Gaza.

"The criticisms are not concerned with me personally, but with the organisation as a whole. The calls for [my] resignation are part of the campaign to destroy UNRWA", he said.

Israel's assault on Gaza has so far killed at least 28,858 people, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian territory's health ministry.

Several countries -- including the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan -- have suspended funding to UNRWA in response to Israeli allegations that some of its staff participated in the October 7 attack.

Lazzarini said $438 million has been frozen -- the equivalent of more than half of expected income for 2024. "If all countries continue to withhold their payments, UNRWA's funding will very quickly be at risk," he said.

"From March onwards, expenses exceed income. And without new donors, UNRWA will have to cease operations in April." He said this applied not only to the Gaza Strip but also to work in the West Bank, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Lazzarini said he was holding meetings with donors and some were "willing to reconsider their decision". He said the European Commission would pay its contribution of around 82 million euros ($88 million) again from March.