"False accusations": Israel is making more "international enemies" while conducting ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
While Israel is trying to destroy UNRWA just to proceed with famine in Gaza,
Not just to proceed with famine. Apparently there is more to it, at least according to some commentators and politicians.
The story goes like that, in short:
- Israel accused UNRWA of having connections with Hamas and jihadi groups.
- Just based on that, some 18 countries, including the major donor, the US, paused or suspended funding to UNRWA.
- The UN called for investigation into the Israeli claims, repeatedly asking for evidence.
- The investigation committee, as well as 3 independent groups, published their preliminary report; conclusion: Israeli claim wasn't, so far, supported by evidence and no evidence has been found independently by the investigators.
- Several states have lifted their suspensions, but not the US, even though their own "intelligence agencies have expressed
“low confidence” in Israel’s claims [RT linked by sToRmR1dR]
Palestine Chronicle:
Israeli fixation to “end” UNRWA because the Agency has become a live registry of the Palestinian refugees who continue to challenge the 75-year-old Israeli diabolical prophecy. Following the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, an Israeli foreign ministry study had predicted that “The most adaptable (Palestinians) and best survivors would ‘manage’ by a process of natural selection and others will waste away. Some will die but most will turn into human debris and social outcasts and probably join the poorest classes in the Arab countries.”
Earlier this week,
Micheál Martin - Tánaiste of Ireland, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Minister for Defence - made a trip to the ME, starting in Egipt, then Jordan and Rafah boarder crossing, including
visiting Al Arish humanitarian hub and Al Arish Hospital.
The press conference he had in Cairo was very interesting. A collection of excerpts from what I could find online:
Irish Independent
"I think the most worrying aspect of that was that there was a very sudden rush to judgment in terms of the entirety of the UNRWA organisation,"
"I think, some fail to grasp the absolute centrality of UNRWA to providing aid to the Palestinians, not just in Gaza, but in the West Bank, in Jordan, in Syria and in Lebanon,"
"There's a political element to this as well, because UNRWA in many ways reflects the principle the right of return for Palestinians in the event of a final two-state solution,"
"So if you undermine UNRWA and essentially remove it, you remove the right to return. So in our view, there was a desire in Israel to both undermine UNRWA and to take it out of the equation for both political reasons and other reasons which we found unacceptable – given the role that UNRWA plays in humanitarian supplies."
In going to Rafah today, Mr Martin said he wanted "to see it for myself and to hear first-hand from people who are in Gaza."
Ireland took an opposite view to most countries on UNRWA after the Israeli claims, he said. "We actually increase our aid."
That's what no one is talking about.
Some more quotes from that trip:
Aljazeera
Speaking from Cairo, Irish Foreign and Defence Minister Micheal Martin has reiterated his country’s position on the recognition of a Palestinian state but said there are significant challenges in place.
“There are other people who don’t want this recognition to happen,” he said during a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. “And they have been endeavouring to delay, delay, delay for years, and our government at the outset said that we would consider recognition, we’re disposed to recognition and we said that we’ll do it when we felt that the timing is optimal.”
Irish Times
Mr Martin also said the world “cannot go on” with the type of warfare being seen.
“There seems to be a new trend from Aleppo onwards where you just level the place, level residential houses, you level civic offices, you level universities, you level schools,” he said.
“This has become the new norm in the waging of war. We see it Syria, we see it Ukraine, we see it in Gaza and the world has to call a halt, the world will not be able to sustain this.”
The Journal
Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Martin said that he is “very pessimistic about the prospect of a ceasefire” in Gaza.
“The sense we have from the engagements I’ve had since Monday is negative in respect of the early prospects of a ceasefire,” he said, adding that he hopes he is wrong.
“We do seem to have gone backwards in respect of the ceasefire.”
The Tánaiste said he is also “worried about the prospects of an Israeli invasion of Rafah” in southern Gaza.
Following his trip to the refugee camp, Martin traveled to Amman, Jordan’s capital city, to meet with Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Safadi, Martin said he will go back to his European Union colleagues and question “who in their right mind” could take away funding from UNRWA, “an organisation that provides such an opportunity for young people”.
“It is, to me, completely unacceptable to be endeavouring to undermine UNRWA.”
The Tánaiste said UNRWA is “indispensable”.
Speaking to reporters later in the day, Martin said Europe and other donors need to develop a situation whereby “just because something gets said or allegations are made” that “funding isn’t just automatically paused or reviewed or cut”.
“There has to be a proper system to interrogate any allegation that’s made.”
Back to the "if you undermine UNRWA and essentially remove it, you remove the
right to return" part.
UNRWA (Wikipedia) is:
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the Nakba, the 1948 Palestine War, and subsequent conflicts, as well as their descendants, including legally adopted children. As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees.
...The United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 212 (III), dated 19 November 1948, which established the UN Relief for Palestine Refugees (UNRPR) to provide emergency relief to Palestine refugees in coordination with other UN or humanitarian agencies. In response to the political aspects of the conflict, less than a month later the General Assembly adopted Resolution 194, creating the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP), mandated to help achieve a final settlement between the warring parties, including facilitating "the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees" in collaboration with the UNRPR.
... Unable to resolve the "Palestine problem" ... Pursuant to this recommendation, and to paragraph 11 of Resolution 194, which concerned refugees, on 8 December 1949, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 302(IV), which established the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Resolution 194
The Resolution defines principles for reaching a final settlement and returning Palestine refugees to their homes. Article 11 of the resolution resolves that
refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.
So it seems that as long as UNRWA exists, the right to return and the obligation to compensation are in force. I'm no law expert and things may be more complicated, including existing controversies and Israel's no respect to law other than their own (and even that is disputable), I think that on some level it may be at least a partial cause of their obsession with destroying the agency.
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