Norway calls on donors to resume funding to Palestinian UNRWA agency

Norway called on international donors on Tuesday to resume payments to the UN agency for Palestinians refugees (UNRWA) after a report found Israel had yet to provide evidence that some UNRWA staff were linked to terrorist groups, Reuters reports.

The United States, Britain and others, earlier this year, paused payments to UNRWA following Israel’s claims, while Norway, also a major donor to the organisation, argued that funding cuts put the population of Gaza at risk.

A review of the Agency’s neutrality, led by former French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, on Monday concluded Israel had yet to back up its accusations that hundreds of UNRWA staff were operatives in Gaza terrorist groups.

“I would now like to call on countries that have still frozen their contributions to UNRWA to resume funding,” Norway’s Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide, said in a statement.

A separate investigation by internal UN investigators is looking into Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA staff took part in the Hamas-led 7 October attacks which triggered the Gaza war.

Israel has repeatedly equated UNRWA staff with Hamas members in efforts to discredit them, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency to have a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary. Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership of the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.

“Norway has emphasised that it is unacceptable to punish an entire organisation, with 30,000 employees, and all Palestine refugees for the alleged misdeeds of a small number of the organisation’s employees,” Barth Eide said.

While 10 countries have since ended their suspensions, the United States, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Lithuania have not. A UN spokesperson, on Monday, said UNRWA currently had enough funding to pay for operations until June.

READ: Israel fails to provide evidence for allegations against UNRWA staff