On Monday, further details emerged about the evidence provided by the Israeli government regarding the alleged actions of these United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) workers. Israel claims that several UNRWA personnel participated in the violence and kidnapping of Israelis, and also used UNRWA vehicles and facilities. UNRWA announced that two of the accused have now died and the others have been fired while the UN conducts a thorough investigation.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that while the actions of some UNRWA officials should be punished, “it does not indict the organization as a whole.” Nevertheless, the State Department on Friday acknowledged that UNRWA “plays a critical role in providing life-saving assistance to Palestinians,” but announced that it would “temporarily block” additional funding for UNRWA pending the outcome of the investigation. announced that it had been suspended.
Nine countries followed the US lead. The European Commission announced that it would suspend action until all the facts are known. The State Department also said it would continue dispersing previously mandated funds, but the impact on aid groups is already devastating. Mr. Philippe Lazzarini, Director of UNRWA, said: said on saturday He said the organization’s plans to help 2 million desperate people in the Gaza Strip were “unraveling” due to pending aid cuts, which he called “further collective punishment.” .
Let me be clear: there will be no sanctuary or mercy for UNRWA personnel convicted of terrorism or other crimes on October 7th. And to be sure, UNRWA has big questions to answer about this and other cases in which some of its 13,000 staff in Gaza appear to support violence against Israelis. But the Biden administration’s actions are not only cruel. It will have a ripple effect that will make solving all the problems in the Middle East even more difficult.
“Cutting aid before the investigation is complete would be catastrophic from a humanitarian and strategic perspective,” said Wael, a former State Department official and current CEO of the Muslim-American political group Emgage USA. Al-Zayat said. “There are millions of people, mainly children, who depend on this aid. To take it away while the bombs are still falling is inhumane. Strategically speaking, cutting off aid is , which will put pressure on all countries hosting Palestinian refugees, including key allies like Jordan.”
UNRWA is the largest provider of food and medical services to civilians in the Gaza Strip. According to USAID, approximately 1.4 million of Gaza’s 1.9 million internally displaced people are sheltering within UNRWA premises, with an additional 400,000 relying on UNRWA assistance. UNRWA is also running overcrowded schools and struggling clinics, and helping to deliver food and hygiene supplies trickling into Gaza from Egypt. UNRWA was already facing a shortfall of nearly $500 million for Palestinian assistance needs in Gaza and the West Bank. More than 140 UNRWA personnel have been killed in Gaza since the war began.
Cutting off aid could also impact UNRWA’s continued efforts to assist an additional three million Palestinians living in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. These refugees have been assisted by the United Nations for decades, and many are descendants of Palestinians who voluntarily left Israel after 1948. The Israeli government has long sought to strip these Palestinians of their refugee status. Palestinians associate refugee status with the right to return to Israel. .
If UNRWA’s capacity to operate ceases, the governments of these countries, particularly Jordan, will be held accountable. This means the Biden administration is placing more burden on regional partners who are already dealing with the additional risks and instability posed by increased regional violence.
During the Trump administration, increasing instability in the region was one of the reasons the State Department and Defense Department resisted ending U.S. funding to UNRWA. In late 2018, then-President Donald Trump finally sided with UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who wanted to cut funding to UNRWA to pressure the Palestinian Authority to resume diplomatic negotiations. stood. Mr. Trump withheld hundreds of millions of U.S. funds, but to no avail.
When the Biden team restores funding in 2021, it will state that supporting Palestine and regional stability is consistent with U.S. interests and values and is critical to advancing the cause of a negotiated two-state solution. Stated. Now that action would defeat all those purposes.
The Israeli government says other aid agencies can fill the gap, but that’s “magic thinking”, says Janti Soeripto, chief executive and chairman of aid group Save the Children. He said this on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “It is not possible for the collective humanitarian sector to completely replace UNRWA in the short time frame required,” she said.
Perhaps the Biden team acted quickly in an election year to avoid political criticism of its support to UNRWA so far. But that will not placate Biden’s critics and, in return, undermine the administration’s claims to supporters that it cares about the plight of Palestinians.
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration was “determined to do everything we can to improve the situation for the men, women, and children of Gaza.” Now he is effectively pulling the rug out from under Gazans’ main means of accessing vital food and medicine in the midst of an already historic humanitarian disaster.