Strategic Foundation to Protect UNRWA and Counter the Israeli Plan to Dismantle It
Date
2025-01
Authors
Ahmed Hamash
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Al-Quds University
Abstract
Since its founding in 1949, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has repeatedly faced efforts to dismantle or alter its mandate and reduce its services. However, these attempts intensified and became a persistent Israeli campaign after the launch of the Oslo peace process. This campaign has gradually escalated: beginning with cuts to the quality and quantity of UNRWA’s services, followed by proposals and understandings between Palestinian and Israeli figures, and eventually expanding into bilateral agreements between donor countries and UNRWA. The strategy reached a new level with Jared Kushner’s calls to defund the agency, end its role, and transfer its responsibilities to host countries and other international or local institutions (Foreign Policy, 2018).
The campaign against UNRWA reached its peak during Israel’s war of extermination against the Palestinian people in late 2023, prompting some of Israel’s allies to suspend their support for the agency (UNRWA, 2024a). Meanwhile, Israel moved to restrict UNRWA’s operations and sought to label it as a terrorist organization (Doctors Without Borders, 2024). These attacks form part of Israel’s broader strategy to erase the Palestinian refugee issue, remove the right of return from the international agenda, and evade political and legal responsibility for the 1948 Nakba and the ongoing suffering of over 9.3 million Palestinian refugees and displaced persons (Badil, 2022, p. 38).
This article explores the strategies available to Palestinians—both at official and civil levels—to safeguard UNRWA. As an international body, UNRWA’s presence underscores the United Nations’ responsibility for addressing the Palestinian refugee issue and the crimes of the Nakba. It remains a vital institution until Palestinian refugees can exercise their rights to return, reclaim their property, and receive compensation for the harm they have endured.
This article seeks to address the central question: What means and mechanisms are available to the Palestinians to defend UNRWA against the ongoing Israeli assault? While this discussion takes place amidst a financial and political crisis threatening the very existence of UNRWA, it does not examine this crisis in isolation. Instead, it situates the current challenges within the broader historical and political context that has led to a decline in UNRWA’s services, a widening gap in international protection for Palestinian refugees, and the existential threat to the agency itself.
The importance of this strategic plan is rooted in several key factors. First, it offers a Palestinian vision for safeguarding UNRWA, not only against Israeli attacks but also by addressing the structural flaws within the institution itself. Second, as Israel continues to displace Palestinians and deny them their rights to return, reclaim property, and receive compensation, the dependency of refugees and displaced persons on UNRWA’s services grows even more acute. Third, Israel has recently succeeded in rallying certain influential countries to suspend funding for UNRWA, further widening the protection gap and turning humanitarian aid into a tool for advancing political agendas at the expense of humanitarian needs in Palestine.
Thus, developing a strategy to shield UNRWA from Israeli efforts requires a thorough reassessment of the ongoing political and financial crises plaguing the agency. This article will explore several key issues, including an overview of the protection system for Palestinian refugees and the flaws within that system, which have exacerbated their suffering. It will also examine the drivers behind Israel’s campaign to dismantle UNRWA and erase the Palestinian refugee issue, with a particular focus on recent Israeli actions in Gaza and Jerusalem. Finally, the article outlines the ways and mechanisms available to Palestinians and the international community to resist this campaign and safeguard UNRWA until refugees and displaced persons can fully exercise their rights.