UNRWA chief: Calls to dismantle agency aim to strip Palestinians of their refugee status

Calls to dismantle UNRWA aim to strip millions of Palestinians of their refugee status, the agency’s commissioner-general said yesterday.

Philippe Lazzarini said he expects the campaign targeting UNRWA to continue, reiterating that it is part of a larger Israeli plan against Palestinians.

“The call for the agency to be dismantled will continue. The mantra that the agency perpetuates the refugee status will also certainly continue,” he said.

“The real objective in calling for the dissolvement of the agency is related to the objective to strip Palestinians of refugee status.”

All of this is also perceived by Palestinians as an attempt to “weaken or end” the prospect of a two-state solution, he added.

A number of Israel’s allies cut or froze funding to UNRWA in January after the occupation state accused 12 of the UN agency’s staff of being involved in the Palestinian resistance’s infiltration of Israeli towns bordering Gaza on 7 October. No evidence was given for the claims and most countries have since reinstated funding as a result.

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.

READ: UN closes 5 cases of Israel’s claims of UNRWA involvement in Hamas attacks