Islamic Jihad condemns Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA

The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine has strongly condemned the Israeli regime’s decision to sever ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and ban its activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a statement released yesterday, the movement emphasised that this decision represents the direct targeting of Palestinian refugees’ rights and will disrupt essential humanitarian services, particularly in education and healthcare and will exacerbate the suffering of the Palestinian people in both the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, threatening the lives of millions.

The statement underscored that the justifications provided by the regime are false, as its ongoing efforts to terminate UNRWA’s operations aim to erase the Palestinian refugee issue and ultimately liquidate the Palestinian cause.

It held the UN Security Council responsible for taking a firm stance and activating the UN Charter to expel Israel from the General Assembly in light of its repeated violations, particularly amid the massacres and genocidal war it has waged against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip for over a year.

READ: By criminalising UNRWA, Israel is delegitimising the United Nations

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.

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.

Israel bans UNRWA’s operations – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]