Israel threatens to expel UN humanitarian coordinator

Israel has sent a letter to the UN asking that United Nations Development and Humanitarian Coordinator Robert Piper stand down, reports The Palestinian News Agency (WAFA), after a series of critical statements he made against Israel.

Israeli authorities threatened to “refuse to extend his residency permit” if Piper was not fired.

According to political sources the letter said that if Piper is not dismissed Israel would find it difficult to continue cooperating with him, which would affect the coordination of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

Read: Israel expands its presence at the UN, a body it treats with contempt

Piper, who was born in Australia, has worked for various United Nations development agencies for more than 30 years and has served as Development and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 2015.

During the last two years his statements have provoked resentment and anger. Last week, on the 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, he wrote in a statement:

“Occupation is ugly. Living under foreign military rule for years on end generates despair, suffocates initiative and leaves generations in a kind of political and economic limbo.”

#OccupiedPalestine 

Piper also accused Israel of being the main cause for the humanitarian difficulties Palestinians face. He also said that the current Israeli security apparatus and politicians have isolated Palestinian communities from each other, ruptured social cohesion, profoundly limited economic activity and deprived many Palestinians of their basic rights, and that Israeli policy has, in many cases, violated international humanitarian law.

Earlier this year Piper published a condemnation of ongoing measures used by the Israeli authorities that affect the provision of humanitarian aid to Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank. He also accused Israel of using a combination of law, politics and practice to intervene to create a state of inertia in Area C of the West Bank.

Piper has said that Israel carries primary responsibility for the delay in the reconstruction of Gaza after the recent war on the Gaza Strip, known as Operation Protective Edge. In a statement released on the second anniversary of the war, Piper said:

This week two years ago Palestinians in Gaza breathed a sigh of relief after 51 days of hostilities that led to unprecedented levels of suffering and resulted in the death of more than 1,450 civilians.