Abbas says Israel's criticism of the United Nations is aimed at “eliminating” the Palestinian refugee issue.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said today that the Israeli-led campaign to discredit the work of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) aims to “eliminate” the problem of displaced people, one of the central problems in 75 years of conflict. There are around six million Palestinian refugees worldwide – mainly in Lebanon, Jordan and the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip – and many of them need the humanitarian assistance that UNRWA has provided since 1948.
In the midst of the war in Gaza, UNRWA is responsible for distributing the scarce humanitarian aid that more than two million Palestinians in the enclave, almost the entire population, rely on in the worst humanitarian disaster the Palestinian people have experienced.
Nine countries (US, Canada, UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland and Australia) have announced the suspension of funding to UNRWA after the agency fired several employees and launched an investigation into allegations of its possible involvement with Hamas October 7 attacks in Israel. “The President called on countries that had already taken a position on UNRWA before the completion of the investigation into the allegations against him to withdraw it, as it represents an unjust and inhumane punishment for millions of Palestinians of our people,” said Abbas' statement from the Palestinian presidential office .
Both UNRWA Commissioner Philippe Lazzarini and UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a transparent investigation into their staff's involvement in the October 7 attacks, while demanding that the nine countries cut funding to the agency in order to reconsider their stance, as this could lead to violence and the end of his activity.
There is already an ongoing investigation by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services, the organization's top investigative agency. And UNRWA terminated the contracts of its employees suspected of collaborating with Hamas.
President Abbas has said Israel has been “committing crimes against Palestinian refugees” since they were expelled in 1948 – an episode known to them as the Nakba – the last of which was the “genocidal war” inside the Gaza Strip. Abbas has stated that “the return of refugees is at the core of the Palestinian issue,” on which dozens of UN resolutions have been adopted and which is a fundamental part of the buried two-state solution, although Israel rejects the return of all refugees as a future Palestinian Country.
Israel, for its part, has thanked the countries that have suspended funding to UNRWA and asked that more countries join this measure against the organization, which it describes as a “sanctuary for terrorists.” Hamas has flatly denied that UNRWA humanitarian personnel are cooperating with it in military operations. (Efe)