Amman – Jordan condemned, on Monday, the Israeli Knesset’s decision to classify the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as a “terrorist organization.”
He said this represented a “violation of international law and Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.”
Earlier on Monday, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that “the Knesset plenum approved in the first reading this afternoon (Monday) a bill that considers UNRWA a terrorist organization, and thus completely halts its activities in Israel.”
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “This decision is an attempt to kill the agency and assassinate it politically, and target its symbolism that confirms the right of Palestinian refugees to return and compensation in accordance with international law.”
The ministry explained that “the ongoing Israeli allegations and measures targeting UNRWA, and aiming to kill it and cancel its pivotal and essential role in providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in accordance with its international mandate, represent a blatant violation of international law and Israel’s obligations, as the occupying power.”
She pointed out “the importance of the role played by the agency in providing vital services to Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operation, especially in the Gaza Strip, which is suffering an unprecedented humanitarian disaster as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression against it since October 7.”
The ministry called on “the international community to continue providing the necessary political and financial support to the agency so that it can continue its humanitarian role, which cannot be dispensed with or replaced until the Palestinian issue is resolved on the basis of the two-state solution.”
On May 29, the Knesset approved in its preliminary reading a “bill to cancel the immunity and privileges granted to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.”
In order for the law to become effective, it must pass three readings, which Palestinian, UN and international parties see as an Israeli campaign to dismantle UNRWA and liquidate the Palestinian refugee issue.
Coinciding with its war on Gaza since October 7, Israel has launched an attack on the international organization and claims that its employees contributed to the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attacks.
On that day, Hamas launched attacks on military bases and settlements adjacent to Gaza, in response to “the occupation’s daily crimes against the Palestinian people and their sanctities, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque,” according to the movement.
UNRWA, which is headquartered in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, denies Israel’s accusations, and insists that it is neutral and focuses exclusively on supporting refugees.
The Palestinians’ need for UNRWA services is growing in light of the war that resulted in more than 129,000 Palestinian deaths and injuries, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of dozens of children.
UNRWA was established by a United Nations resolution in 1949, and was mandated to provide assistance and protection to refugees in its five areas of operation: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, until a just solution to their plight is reached.
Anatolia
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2024-07-23 00:26:28
