Norway, the UN, the USA and several countries have reacted strongly to the fact that the majority in the Knesset passed two new laws on Monday evening which will ban the UN aid organization for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA. One law prohibits UNWRA from operating in Israel and Israeli-occupied territories from next year. The second law stipulates that Israel labels the UN aid organization as a terrorist group and breaks diplomatic ties with the organization. This means that the Israeli authorities are prohibited from having any contact whatsoever with the UN organisation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the opening of the Knesset on Monday. Photo: Debbie Hill / Reuters Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap) said in a press release yesterday that Norway strongly disagrees with the decision. Now the Norwegian government is going one step further. Eide wants the UN’s highest court to assess whether Israel is violating international law when they want to ban UNRWA’s work. – No one is above the law and no one is above international law. The occupying power Israel has a duty to facilitate support for the people living in Palestine under occupation. Therefore, we believe this decision is simply illegal, says Eide to news. According to the government, a number of countries have expressed support for the initiative, in addition to the United Nations Organization for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). A truck with an UNRWA logo was smashed in an Israeli attack in Deir el-Balah on 23 October. Photo: EYAD BABA / AFP I don’t think anyone can replace UNRWA now Norway has long been critical of how Israel has operated in Gaza and the West Bank after the Hamas attack last October. Following Israel’s decision banning the UN aid organisation, Norway fears that the consequences could be dramatic for hundreds of thousands of civilians. The organization has provided aid to millions of displaced Palestinians for over 70 years. They have also continued to work, while the war has raged in Gaza. Facts about UNRWA * The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was established in 1949 to help Palestinians who were displaced when the state of Israel was established the previous year. * UNRWA has around 32,000 employees and assists Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. 13,000 are employed in the Gaza Strip. * The aid organization currently assists 5.9 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants with schooling, health services, social assistance, food and housing. * UNRWA runs 700 schools and 140 health clinics and has around 30,000 employees. * Last year’s budget was NOK 16 billion, but in recent years UN member states have not contributed what UNRWA has asked for. * UNRWA is currently led by the Swiss social economist Philippe Lazzarini, who has previously worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). * The Israeli national assembly, the Knesset, decided on 28 October to ban UNRWA and deny the organization access to the Palestinians in the occupied territories. Source: UN / UNRWA/NTB Palestinians queue to receive medicine at UNRWA’s health center in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024. Photo: BASHAR TALEB / AFP Eide believes Israel is now making it difficult for Palestinians to get essentials help and basic services such as health care and school. The Israeli authorities say they are working for other solutions that can replace the UN organization’s work. Eide thinks it is not good enough. – All important emergency aid organizations are clear that they need the UN’s emergency aid organization for Palestinian refugees. They are the ones who have the experience, they are the ones who have the expertise and those who have the entire infrastructure both in Gaza and the West Bank, says Eide to news. He does not believe that anyone can replace the UN organization in the current situation. – I do not believe that there is an alternative plan for this that can be put in place in time. The need and the crisis are now, not in the future. So this must be reversed, says Eide. news has tried to get a comment from the Israeli embassy in Norway without success. People search for survivors in the rubble after an Israeli attack on the Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza on October 24. Maghazi is among the many permanent Palestinian refugee camps established in the late 1940s and still standing today. Photo: EYAD BABA / AFP – Undermining the work for a two-state solution Eide also believes that Israel’s new laws can undermine the work for a viable Palestinian state and a two-state solution. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the other hand, is well satisfied with Monday’s decision. – UNRWA staff involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable, he wrote on X after the new laws were passed. Israel has claimed that 450 UNRWA staff worked for militant groups in Gaza and that several participated in the terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October last year. Several countries put payments to UNRWA on hold. Norway was not among them. An independent commission of inquiry later determined that Israel lacked evidence. UNRWA also fired around 20 staff for having a role in the 7 October attack. Published 29/10/2024, at 17.30 Updated 29.10.2024, at 20.22
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