Middle East, Israel asks the UN to dismantle the refugee agency –

Israel has presented a proposal to the United Nations “to dismantle UNRWA”, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees founded in 1949, and “transfer its personnel to a replacement agency to carry out deliveries of food on a large scale in Gaza.” This was revealed by ‘The Guardian’ which cites United Nations sources. The proposal, writes the British newspaper, «was presented at the end of last week by the Israeli chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, to United Nations officials in Israel, who forwarded it to the organization’s secretary general, António Guterres on Saturday, sources close to the dossier said.” UNRWA was not involved in the talks as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) believes that some of the agency’s staff are affiliated with Palestinian groups such as Hamas or Islamic Jihad. According to the Israeli proposal «300-400 UNRWA staff could initially be transferred to another UN agency, such as the World Food Program (WFP) or to a new organization specifically created to distribute food aid in Gaza.

Other UNRWA employees may be transferred in later stages and the agency’s assets may also be transferred.” Details, ‘The Guardian’ notes, would be vague as to who would run this new agency or who would provide security for its deliveries. Some UN officials, the newspaper writes, “see the Israeli plan as an attempt to portray the United Nations as unwilling to cooperate in the event of famine in Gaza, which humanitarian organizations have warned is imminent.” The International Court of Justice, which is examining genocide charges against Israel, on Thursday ordered the Israeli government to take “all necessary and effective measures” to ensure the large-scale delivery of aid to Gaza “in full cooperation with the United Nations United.” Some people within the United Nations view the Israeli proposal as “the culmination of a long Israeli campaign to destroy UNRWA.” «If we allow this, there is a risk of being managed directly by the Israelis, and the United Nations risks being complicit in weakening UNRWA, which is not only the largest aid provider, but also the largest bastion of ‘anti-extremism in Gaza,’ a UN official said. Guterres’ office and the IDF did not respond to requests for comment.