Liberation newspaper said that several Western countries took the initiative to suspend their donations to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) immediately after Israel accused employees of the agency of participating in the attack on October 7, 2023, a decision that the political expert specializing in Middle East affairs, Jean-Paul Chaneloud, believes “has Severe consequences.” 

The newspaper explained - in an interview summarized by Maria Malagardes - that more than 10 Western countries, including the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, have suspended vital funding for this organization that has been responsible since 1949 for the fate of Palestinian refugees, and which is the only source of humanitarian aid for the residents of the Gaza Strip who are being subjected to army bombing. Israelis 3.5 months ago, at a time when starvation threatens 40% of them.

UNRWA immediately terminated the contracts of 9 suspected employees, another died, and the rest were not identified. It also opened an investigation to determine the precise responsibilities of dozens of targeted employees, but that did not seem sufficient, as the speed of the donor countries’ reaction coincided with the issuance of the International Court of Justice’s order to “accept” the occurrence of genocide in Gaza, and its call to ensure the provision of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians stranded in the Gaza Strip.

The Middle East affairs expert spoke about the indispensable role of UNRWA in the lives of 6 million Palestinian refugees, two million of whom are in Gaza, noting that the Israeli right has always been hostile to this agency, and former US President Donald Trump withdrew financial support for it, but he was succeeded by an atmosphere Biden brought it back.

But behind the financial aspect - as the expert says - there is always the political question: How do we make the issue of Palestinian refugees disappear? Because this is the logic that prevailed before October 7, when Israel was preparing to normalize its relations with Arab countries, before the ongoing war revived the idea of eliminating UNRWA.

Two contradictory positions

Although we do not know what the charge is against UNRWA employees, and that the agency’s immediate reaction after Israel revealed the involvement of some was honest and transparent, the speed with which the United States and some European countries stopped funding it raises questions, because weakening UNRWA today is ridiculous and dangerous, and it is also supporting Implicit in the position of the Israeli government and the violent attack it is leading in the Gaza Strip.

The Middle East affairs expert pointed out that the Europeans took a fairly clear position supporting the implementation of the order issued by the International Court of Justice, but we have the impression that some countries such as Germany immediately wanted to “rebalance” this position by suspending funding for UNRWA in the wake of the Israeli accusations.

Shanyolod: Western alignment with Israeli positions towards UNRWA is a sign of our contradictions and weakness in defending the law

The two positions appear - to the expert - to be contradictory, as it is not possible to support the urgent need for more humanitarian measures on the one hand, and to cut off funds from UNRWA, which provides this aid on the spot, on the other hand, and because striking this agency contradicts what the Court of Justice requested.

At a time when the world has completely abandoned the Palestinian population, the presence of UNRWA on the spot hinders the Israeli strategy that wants to “destroy everything,” as the Israeli Defense Minister clearly said, especially since Israel today - as the expert believes - wants to liquidate the Palestinian issue and expel the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, UNRWA is a collateral victim of this strategy.

The Middle East affairs expert expressed his fear that the decision to cut funding for UNRWA would strengthen the idea of expelling Palestinians from Gaza, concluding that Western alignment with Israeli positions toward UNRWA is “a sign of our contradictions and weakness in defending the law.”

Source: Liberation + Aljazeera