According to Israeli media reports, the Israeli occupation government has taken measures to ban the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in occupied Jerusalem.
The Anadolu Agency pointed out that the actions to ban the activities of the UN agency come in the context of an extremist right-wing incitement campaign exploiting allegations leveled by Israel against UNRWA in Gaza, which have not been substantiated.
UNRWA manages the Shuafat refugee camp, the only camp in East Jerusalem, as well as several schools and medical clinics, in addition to its main headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
Media sources indicate that the Israeli authorities have taken the following steps to close and ban the agency’s work in East Jerusalem:
- A bill to halt the agency’s operations in East Jerusalem was presented to the Israeli Ministerial Committee on Legislation last Sunday and was approved.
- The bill will be presented to the Israeli Knesset for a preliminary vote tomorrow, Wednesday.
- Subsequently, the bill must be approved in three readings before it becomes a binding law, and the voting dates have not yet been determined.
- The Israeli Housing Minister, Haim Gutkinov, issued directives yesterday to the director of the so-called “Israel Land Authority,” Yanki Quint, to evacuate the UNRWA management headquarters.
- He also issued an order to immediately terminate all land contracts signed with UNRWA and to remove the agency from all leased lands and those it uses in Israel.
The Israeli Housing Minister’s letter to the director of the “Israel Land Authority” stated, “I am contacting you in my capacity as the Chairman of the Israel Land Council regarding the lands belonging to the Authority used by the criminal UNRWA organization. I would like to immediately halt all Israeli land contracts with the UNRWA organization and to remove it from the leased lands and from all lands used by the agency in Israel.”
Specifically mentioned were the agency’s main headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and also the agency’s headquarters in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood north of East Jerusalem.
Israeli-occupied Jerusalem, in particular, West Jerusalem, an area currently controlled by Israel.
The Israeli Minister of Housing, Haim Gutkinov, wrote, “I urgently request. “I get the full details of all contracts and leases made for the benefit of UNRWA and the expiry dates of the contracts with them, whether in the (settlement) neighborhood of Ma’ale Adumim in Jerusalem (referring to the headquarters of Sheikh Jarrah) and Kafr Aqab.”
Since January 26th, 18 countries in addition to the European Union have suspended their funding for UNRWA following Israeli allegations that employees of agency participated in a Palestinian resistance attack on Israeli settlements in the Gaza envelope on October 7th of last year. The agency announced that it is investigating the Israeli allegations.
