Israel moves to redefine UNRWA: Controversial bill passes preliminary reading - opinion

On May 29, 2024, a Bill to Abolish the Immunity and Privileges of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), designating the UN organization as a terrorist organization, passed a preliminary reading with a 42-6 majority in the Israeli parliament.

The same bill will abolish immunities and privileges for UNRWA employees. In the current composition of the Knesset, the bill is likely to pass the final reading, and the Anti-Terrorism Law will also apply. Consequently, Israel will cease its ties with UNRWA.

What is UNRWA’s job in the Middle East?

What are Israel’s grievances against the agency? Why are the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Article 1D of the Refugee Convention relevant? And what are possible ways to support the refugees in Gaza? 

UNRWA was established as a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly in December 1949 and became operational on 1 May 1950. Resolution 302 of the UN General Assembly recognizes that “continued assistance for the relief of the Palestine refugees is necessary to prevent conditions of starvation and distress among them and to further conditions of peace and stability, and that constructive measures should be undertaken at an early date with a view to the termination of international assistance for relief.”

UNRWA’s original mandate was for three years. It was renewed initially for five years and subsequently for three-year terms. This means that UNRWA was a temporary organization expected to provide “relief” and “works programs.” It was not supposed to last forever. 

UNRWA’s operational definition reads: “A Palestine refugee is a person whose normal residence was Palestine for a minimum period of two years preceding the outbreak of the conflict in 1948 and who, as a result of this conflict, has lost both his home and his means of livelihood.” 

Everyone who met this definition and resided in UNRWA’s areas of operations was entitled to its support. The Palestinian refugee definition also includes descendants: “The descendants of Palestine refugee males, including adopted children, are also eligible for registration.” At the time, it was responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestine refugees. 

Tackling the refugee issue

The refugee issue is extremely difficult – if not impossible – to resolve, as the original refugee population has grown to 5.9 million refugees registered with UNRWA in 2023. Of them, 871,000  are in the West Bank and some 1.7 million in the Gaza Strip. The others are in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

The UNRWA operates in 58 recognized refugee camps. It issues identity cards for stateless Palestinians, organizes municipal services, provides relief and social services, maintains and improves the camps’ infrastructure, carries health and education programs, and provides emergency services in times of conflict. It does not protect the physical safety and security of the Palestinian residents of the camps nor does it keep law and order.

Undoubtedly, it does very important work. However, since Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, Israel has voiced grave reservations regarding its operations. Senior Israeli security people have said time and again that UNRWA has been serving Hamas’ interests. 

I was surprised when former head of the Mossad Shabtai Shavit bluntly told me in an interview in July 2018, that “UNRWA is Hamas.” After the Hamas tragic attack of 7 October 2023, Israel argued that UNRWA employees took an active part in the attack and used UNRWA facilities to carry out their terror operations. This explains why the Knesset wishes to abolish UNRWA’s immunity and privileges.

It should be noted that for many years, Israel has wanted to dismantle UNRWA, believing it to have become part of the Palestinian problem. Not only has it failed to resolve the refugee problem but, Israel claims, it sustains the problem. Now Israel perceives the Hamas-Israel war as an opportunity to bring UNRWA’s operations to an end. But, of course, the Palestinian refugees need support. If not from UNRWA then by another country or organization. 

A refugee is defined as a person who “is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.” According to this convention, the permanent solution for refugees is, first and foremost, to return to their country of nationality when it is safe to do so, and they no longer fear persecution. If this is impossible, refugees should be able to relocate and resettle in another state.

The term “Palestinian refugees” predates the UNHCR and the Refugee Convention. All countries in the world were exempt from responsibility for Palestinian refugees under the UNHCR framework because it was legally inapplicable to Palestinian refugees under the Refugees Convention. Article 1D of the Refugee Convention excludes Palestinian refugees falling under the mandate of UNRWA. It states: “This Convention shall not apply to persons who are at present receiving from organs or agencies of the United Nations other than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees protection or assistance.” It maintains: “When such protection or assistance has ceased for any reason, without the position of such persons being definitively settled in accordance with the relevant resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, these persons shall ipso facto be entitled to the benefits of this Convention”. 

ENDING REFUGEE status and enabling people to rebuild their lives in dignity is the ultimate goal. In this respect, UNRWA has failed miserably. It has not, nor does it, seek durable solutions. Because the UN resolved that the Palestinian refugees were entitled to the “right of return,” UNRWA operations incentivize Palestinian refugees to avoid rehabilitation which would mean they would lose their right of return to their pre-1947 homes in Palestine, now Israel. 

Consequently, UNRWA supports the Palestinians while they, their children, and their grandchildren, hold the “keys” to their “homes in Palestine” and await the destruction of Israel to be able to use them.

Moving forward, the UN may ponder two options. First, UNRWA should consider developing its policy and practice with respect to resettlement and seeking durable solutions. Because UNRWA’s mandate does not include resettlement, Palestinian refugees remain stuck in the refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. Palestinian refugees do not have a country or nationality. Their former homes within the State of Israel do not exist. 

Some third countries may be willing to accept these refugees. Much is dependent on the United States to make this happen. 

Additionally, according to Article 1D of the Refugee Convention, if Palestinian refugees do not receive help from UNRWA they are entitled to receive assistance from other UN organs. UNHCR would become responsible for Palestinian refugees in Gaza (not in all the 58 recognized refugee camps) if the assistance and protection offered by UNRWA should cease for any reason. 

The UN should ensure that the institutions and programs through which it would discharge its mandate do not become Hamas or Hamas-like. It would be futile to replace one allegedly faulty organization with another.

The writer is a professor of politics and founding director of the Middle East Study Centre, University of Hull, UK, president of the Association for Israel Studies, and global fellow at The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC. X: twitter.com/almagor35