Palestine calls on the Europe to challenge Israel’s ban on UNRWA

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa yesterday called on the European Parliament to challenge Israel’s decision to ban the activities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Mustafa met with a delegation from the European Parliament in his office in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. The delegation included Sweden’s European Parliament’s rapporteur for relations with Palestine, Evin Incir, Italy’s Secretary General of the Party of European Socialists, Giacomo Filibeck, and Member of the European Parliament for Spain, Hana Muro.

Mustafa called on the European delegation to “challenge Israel’s decision to ban the work of UNRWA, which politically aims to eliminate the right of Palestinian refugees to return and contributes to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories.”

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Last week, the Israeli Knesset approved, in their final reading, bills labelling UNRWA a “terrorist organisation” and banning its activities, in a move condemned by regional, European and Western countries and international organisations.

European Council President Charles Michel warned in late October that the decision to ban UNRWA could lead to the cancellation of a deal establishing Israel’s trade relations with the European Union.

Israel has long lobbied 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.

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