The latest multi-phased ceasefire is providing the first glimmer of hope for a resolution to the war in Gaza. After a rollercoaster of diplomacy and statements, Hamas has signalled that the hostage release deal, and thus ceasefire, is back on track. King Abdullah of Jordan rejected the proposals for displacing Palestinians in Gaza, and Egypt committed to reconstruction of Gaza while Palestinians remain in their homeland. Ahead of the Arab summit in Riyadh on Thursday and the upcoming broader Arab Summit in Cairo, leaders must prepare a detailed and compelling proposal that outlines reconstruction and an interim, technocratic governance structure for Gaza.
UNRWA, with its mandate from the UN General Assembly, is an indispensable asset for any post-war stabilisation and reconstruction effort in Gaza. Sustaining UNRWA until the time when a properly functioning Palestinian civil governing body in Gaza can be re-established with the capacity to provide services such as health and education is essential to sustaining the ceasefire deal and achieving a peaceful resolution.
Whatever political settlement is eventually agreed upon, the pathway towards peace will require a professional body capable of delivering civil services, building state capacity and identifying who would qualify as “refugee” for any final peace settlement.
The UN General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with Resolution 302, “with a view to the termination of international assistance for relief”. The agency was there as a temporary solution to sunset once a permanent political settlement is realised.
In its temporary role, UNRWA serves as the registrar of Palestinian refugees who are mentioned in UN Resolution 194 of December 1948, which states 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 in equity, should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible”.
A part of UNRWA’s function has been to constantly maintain a registry of Palestinian refugees that would be entitled to such provisions through a political agreement. This registry offers an approximate census of those entitled to compensation and citizenship in a future state. It is quite noteworthy that no discussion about the redistribution of UNRWA’s portfolio has included (as of this writing) the agency’s role in protecting this registry and being responsible for maintaining its accuracy.
From its earliest days, UNRWA has provided essential services – education, medicine and health care, food and water, and related infrastructure – to Palestinian refugees across the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Currently, about three million refugees in territories occupied by Israel rely on UNRWA, to which there is no substitute readily available that will match its level of field knowledge, human capital or physical and digital infrastructure to operate on the ground where Palestinian refugees are located. In the latest example, UNRWA co-ordinated with Israeli authorities and other UN agencies to successfully and efficiently administer the inoculation of more than a half million Gazans with the polio vaccine last October.
In Gaza alone, nearly two million people, mostly internally displaced and heavily reliant on aid delivery, would be impacted if UNRWA’s lifesaving services were abruptly interrupted. Among them are about 300,000 students currently unable to attend UNRWA’s 183 schools or the numerous civilians in need of medical attention at UNRWA’s 22 primary healthcare facilities. In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, UNRWA serves around 900,000 Palestinian refugees, providing vital services through nearly 100 schools and 43 primary health facilities. Within the current dangerous escalation in violence in the West Bank, any interruption in daily UNRWA services can increase instability and uncertainty in both the short and long term.
Indeed, in my previous role as the minister of education and then prime minister of Jordan, I witnessed firsthand the quality of UNRWA’s services. UNRWA presented a model in providing quality education to Palestinian refugee students in Jordan. They competed against the best schools in the country in academic performance. The skills that students developed significantly raised their employability, contributed to their community’s economic growth and improved the quality of life in their immediate environment.
Some say that UNRWA should be replaced. But no replacement agency or organisation could easily, or even with great difficulty, provide the services that UNRWA currently delivers to millions of Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority or neighbouring countries are not currently positioned to step into UNRWA’s role during the coming phases of the ceasefire agreement. UNRWA should therefore be seen for what it is – an indispensable mechanism for the delivery of essential services in Gaza until a Palestinian state can perform them instead – and should be funded accordingly. UNRWA is, quite simply, irreplaceable.
Israeli allegations about the presence of Hamas actors among the UNRWA staff should (and did) result in those staff being held accountable, but not the whole agency. As with any UN institution, UNRWA staff are subject to high standards of objectivity and professionalism. It is praiseworthy that UNRWA acted forcefully when claims were made against individual staff members and that the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services led a separate investigation to examine those claims.
However, millions should not be punished for the actions of a few, if proven. International humanitarian law obliges an occupying power to ensure the protection and welfare of those living on occupied lands. At the moment, no substitute is readily available, especially in Gaza, where hundreds of trucks of humanitarian supplies are reaching those in need via UNRWA. Recent media reports indicate that some governments have discussed how UNRWA’s portfolio would be redistributed among other UN agencies, with the same agency staff still providing humanitarian aid on the ground. What would then be the justification for de-funding UNRWA?
Dismantling UNRWA will further tighten the screws of delivery of relief, health and education to Palestinian refugees and, more immediately, it will jeopardise a ceasefire deal that a whole region negotiated and depends on for stability.
Yes, UNRWA should eventually be abolished – but we should not get there by depriving Palestinian refugees of their basic rights to education and health care. Instead, the path towards abolition is through a permanent settlement to the Israel-Palestine conflict and a just settlement for refugees. Until such a settlement is achieved, political and financial support for UNRWA to remain intact is in the interest of all those who desire a stable Gaza and, overall, a permanent resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. This is the pathway currently sought under the Global Coalition for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia with the support of the EU and the League of Arab States that seek to de-escalate tensions and find a just and lasting solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
UNRWA is not only a relief organisation. It is a lifeline, a provider of hope, a foundation for the future of an entire population, and for all those in both the Palestinian and Israeli populations who hope to live side by side in peaceful co-existence. Trying to erase UNRWA is trying to erase the historic legal status and rights of Palestinian refugees, and to complicate the creation of a Palestinian state. Without it, we are all left trying to pick up the pieces.
