By Kostas Raptis
The two pieces of legislation that were approved yesterday Monday by a large majority from the Israeli parliament are a crossroads to prevent the operation of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the territory of Israel, not only in relation to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, but as a whole. the post-war international order, and so they raised a storm of reaction.
The legislation, which will take effect in 90 days, would close UNRWA’s headquarters in annexed East Jerusalem and bar Israeli officials from contacting the agency.
This means in practice a ban on the entry of humanitarian aid into the occupied Palestinian territories, the battered Gaza Strip and the West Bank, whose contact with the outside world is controlled by Israel.
It involves an escalation of conflict that occurs on three levels. The first relates to the existence of UNRWA itself, and its perpetuation also suggests that the issue of Palestinian refugees and Palestinian refugee identity still exists. The two and a half million beneficiaries of UNRWA services in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem depend entirely on it for their education, as well as health care and food aid. Whether UNRWA’s training manuals promote “hate”, fueling Palestinian national aspirations, has been repeatedly debated.
Months ago, Israel alleged that 19 of UNRWA’s 13,000 indigenous workers were members of Hamas in the October 7 attacks, prompting 17 Western countries to voluntarily cut funding to the agency. An internal UN investigation acknowledged the allegations against 9 people and funding was restored. Corresponding responses were not observed in the case of more than 100 dead-in-service employees.
The second aspect is related to the “logic of exceptionalism” that Israel is trying to impose on itself, and as a result of which its relations with the United Nations and its agencies are permanent problems, whether it is related to the dozens of resolutions of the Council Security for the Mediterranean. East that came up against the American veto, or that the General Assembly during the period 1975-1991 adopted a resolution that denounces Zionism as a form of racism.
This confrontation has been promoted in the last twelve months, with theatrical movements, such as the appearance of the Israeli delegation before the Security Council with a “Star of David” in the lapel, or the declaration of the Secretary of the United Nations. -General Antonio himself.
To a statement by French President Emmanuel Macron that Israel itself was born by a decision of the United Nations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded that the War of Independence made possible the birth of the Jewish state and nothing else. In other words, the logic of armed power renders international legalization unnecessary.
But the newest and in this case the most important front concerns “threatened genocide”, according to the preliminary ruling of the International Court of Justice in the South African appeal, which has been happening for the past twelve months in the Gaza Strip.
In that regard, the timing of the UNRWA ban was unfortunate, as South Africa has just submitted a 5000 page report to the International Court of Justice in which it sets out the facts supporting its complaints that compilation. But South Africa will have to resolve its situation now, because the deprivation of medical aid and food that would result from the termination of UNWRA’s work comes within the framework of the provisions of the International Convention on Genocide regarding the “partial or total destruction” of populations by their identity.