UN looking for proposals for UNRWA alternatives

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres holds a press conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States on 1 August, 2019 [Atılgan Özdil/Anadolu Agency]

The office of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has started exploring alternatives for the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Quds Net reported yesterday.

According to the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, Guterres’ office had asked pro-Israel non-governmental organisations to submit proposals to replace UNRWA’s operations.

Guterres’ office tasked pro-Israeli NGOs, including the Centre for Near East Policy Research headed by journalist David Bedein, with providing alternatives.

According to the Israeli newspaper, Bedein has long-been a vocal critic of UNRWA.

The newspaper also said that Guterres had met with a number of the NGOs over the past year and stated that there is a scheduled meeting in the middle of this month.

Israel Hayom said that this came following pressure from the US and accusation by Israel that UNRWA is “grossly one-sided” in favour of the Palestinians.

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