[News] Call on Remaining Third States to immediately and Urgently Fund UNRWA to Prevent Famine & the Genocidal Destruction of the Palestinian People
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Tue Apr 9 15:04:11 EDT 2024
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*PHROC Calls on Remaining Third States to immediately and Urgently Fund
UNRWA to Prevent Famine and the Genocidal Destruction of the Palestinian
People *
The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) warns that
Palestinians in Gaza are currently experiencing catastrophic hunger, and
are on the verge of a completely avoidable man-induced famine,
engineered by Israel as a weapon of war to destroy the Palestinian
people. Crippled by 16-years of a punitive military siege and blockade,
even prior to October 7th, Gaza was already de-developed to the point of
dysfunction, with over one million
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=9dd3ad7258&e=08c14cf485>
people dependent on food aid for survival. Since March, due to Israel’s
genocidal policies and implementation of a total siege in North Gaza,
and the denial of life-saving aid into the territory, at least 28
children have died from malnutrition
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=094dcb4214&e=08c14cf485>
and dehydration –– adding their number to the 33,207 Palestinians killed
since October 7th. UNICEF warn
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=8f9e3d55a6&e=08c14cf485>s
that this number will likely rise should Israel’s assault on Gaza
continue and obstacles it has imposed on humanitarian aid remain. Full
resourcing of UNRWA
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=66f1c3e8c2&e=08c14cf485>
is urgently needed to provide for the survival of the Palestinian people
in Gaza.
UNRWA operates under the principle
of<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=5f73d6068f&e=08c14cf485>neutrality,
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meaning that “humanitarian actors must not take sides in hostilities or
engage in controversies of a political, racial, religious, or
ideological nature”. UNRWA is the “backbone
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=c5f001679e&e=08c14cf485>”
of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, as UN Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres describes. It plays, as EU High Representative for Foreign
Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=3b79993581&e=08c14cf485>
explains, an “irreplaceable role as lifeline for the strained civilians
in Gaza and provides indispensable support to the Palestinians of the
whole region”.
For years, Israel has attempted to systematically destroy UNRWA as part
of its annexationist settler colonial objective to prevent the right of
return of the Palestinian people. Seventy percent
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=124accaa0c&e=08c14cf485>
of Palestinians in Gaza are refugees denied the right of return to their
homes in Israel. Israel’s political leaders have castigated
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and smeared UNRWA with malicious claims of “perpetuat[ing] the
Palestinian refugee problem” and “teach[ing] children to hate Israel”.
In 2018 Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=deafaa02f6&e=08c14cf485>called
for UNRWA to be “dismantled”. Also in 2018, United States President
Trump halted funding to UNRWA, with US Ambassador to the United Nations,
Nikki Haley
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=9f9e9fb253&e=08c14cf485>
stating, “we have to look at [the] right of return" of classified
Palestinian refugees. More recently, Israel’s Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Israel Katz
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attacked UNRWA as “part of the Palestinian lie that there are ‘refugees’
who need to return to the State of Israel. We are working to remove
UNRWA from Gaza”. On 2 February, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu
reported
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=83769c71de&e=08c14cf485>that
“[UNRWA] is self-perpetuating also in its desire to keep alive the
Palestinian refugee issue. And we need to get other U.N. agencies and
other aid agencies replacing UNRWA if we’re going to solve the problem
of Gaza as we intend to do”.
Israel has taken both military and political actions to target and
eliminate UNRWA. In February, Israel’s Minister of Finance, Bezalel
Smotrich
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=cba3df17d4&e=08c14cf485>
blocked four shipments of flour from being transferred to UNRWA in Gaza.
Between 7 October and 7 April, 178 UNRWA
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staff members were killed in attacks across Gaza, and 161 UNRWA
installations, many housing the forcibly displaced Palestinian
population, were damaged. On the same day that the International Court
of Justice awarded provisional measures against Israel for plausibly
committing genocide in Gaza, accusations were published against UNRWA
staff, who were immediately fired without due process
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=8d6f5443c3&e=08c14cf485>
on secret evidence
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=3ab4bd2e2a&e=08c14cf485>on
allegations which later turned out to be unsubstantiated
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=5a9e9040ff&e=08c14cf485>.
A Channel 4 investigation
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=285c2a597c&e=08c14cf485>into
Israel’s meagre six-page dossier of allegations against UNRWA workers,
found that it “contains no evidence”. Despite this, 20 States suspended
and withdrew vital funding to UNRWA. These included Australia, Austria,
Canada, Estonia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy,
Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Sweden,
Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The allegations
were clearly aligned to deflect attention from Israel’s loss at the
International Court of Justice and destroy UNRWA as a continuing settler
colonial objective.
In March, UNRWA warned that it would run out of funding at the end of
May
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=c868e53f83&e=08c14cf485>2024.
While some Third States including Australia
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=179a46cba4&e=08c14cf485>,
Austria, Canada,
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=d3791897f4&e=08c14cf485>
Denmark Finland
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=75fdd6908e&e=08c14cf485>,
France, Iceland,
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=51ca899f15&e=08c14cf485>
Japan
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=a42a009fff&e=08c14cf485>
and Sweden
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=992d9ea3d6&e=08c14cf485>
and the United States
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have begun to reinstate their funding to UNRWA –– many more States have
yet to follow –– including Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
On 25 March, Germany
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reinstated its regional funding for UNRWA, however it deliberately
excluded Gaza.
The situation in Gaza has deteriorated catastrophically. On March 6,
South Africa filed
an<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=796ff6eae3&e=08c14cf485>application
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=6c2a54d6de&e=08c14cf485>
for additional provisional measures before the International Court of
Justice in its genocide case against Israel, invoking the widespread
starvation in Gaza, which is spreading at an unprecedented rate. In
recent days, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths warned that Israel’s
“decision to block its food convoys to the north only pushes thousands
closer to famine” and urged full support for UNRWA –– “the beating heart
of the humanitarian response in Gaza”.
We urge the remaining States, to resume funding UNRWA immediately.
*State Obligations to Prevent Genocide*
We remind Third States that in the event of a breach of a peremptory
norm of international law, which includes the prohibition against
genocide, they are under the obligation not recognise the illegal
situation arising from the breach, nor render assistance in maintaining
the illegal situation, and to collaborate towards ending the illegal
situation. Furthermore, under Article VIII of the 1948 Genocide
Convention
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=a4cb45e2a8&e=08c14cf485>,
States Parties “may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations
to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they
consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of
genocide”.
We further remind Third States, who do have the ability to alleviate the
sufferings of the Palestinian people, including through funding UNRWA,
that history
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=7d8056f0cb&e=08c14cf485>
harshly judges those who stand by during genocide. Suspending such
funding is tantamount to condemning millions of Palestinians to die of
hunger, dehydration and disease. Such actions may amount to complicity
in the ongoing genocide as it entrenches conditions of life calculated
to bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people.
In light of the above, we call on Third States to immediately and
urgently continue funding UNRWA and to take concrete steps to bring the
genocide to an end.
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