Adnan Al-Husseini: Seizing UNRWA headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah is political bankruptcy and a challenge to international community institutions

Adnan Abu Hasna: The intended headquarters is a main center for UNRWA operations in the West Bank, and we have not received any official decision yet.

Sami Mshasha: The lands on which UNRWA headquarters and facilities are built in Jerusalem have been rented from the Jordanian government since 1950.

Jawdat Manna: The Israeli decision to seize UNRWA headquarters is a blatant challenge to the United Nations and a threat to its future

Rassem Obeidat: Israel targets UNRWA because it is a witness to the crime of displacing our people and wants to eliminate it and liquidate the right of return

Hani Al-Issawi: UNRWA headquarters is a thorn in the side of the occupation because it separates the settlements that were established after the 1967 war

The decision of the occupying state to seize the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem was neither the first nor the last to liquidate the existence of this international institution, which is considered a witness to one of the greatest humanitarian issues that began in the middle of the twentieth century, which is the issue of the Palestinian refugees who were displaced from their homes and lands in the Nakba of 1948.

Such a decision and the decisions that would follow it to liquidate UNRWA’s existence and liquidate a major political and humanitarian issue should have been felt from the first moment of the Israeli war of extermination on the Gaza Strip, when it rushed to accuse many UNRWA employees of participating in the attack of October 7, 2023, without any evidence, and major countries, led by the United States, followed suit in these accusations without verifying them, but subsequent investigations proved the falsehood of these accusations.

Then the Israeli practices continued, bombing UNRWA headquarters, restricting its movement and preventing it from performing its humanitarian role. Even the schools that it follows and that house displaced civilians were not spared from the bombing. Then the attack that its senior employees were subjected to in the Gaza Strip, and the arrests of its workers and the killing of many of them, until the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deemed an undesirable person.

Attempts to liquidate the Palestinian refugee issue

Adnan al-Husseini, head of the Jerusalem Affairs Department in the Palestine Liberation Organization, condemned the Israeli occupation’s decision to seize the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem, noting that this decision shows the bankruptcy of the occupation and its loss of the ability to continue.

Al-Husseini confirmed to “I” that this targeting constitutes a challenge to the institutions of the international community and the International Court of Justice, and that it is not evidence of Israel’s strength but rather of its political weakness.

Al-Husseini added: The Israeli targeting of UNRWA comes in the context of attempts to liquidate the issue of Palestinian refugees and the right of return, describing it as a flagrant violation of international law and human rights.

He stressed that Israel seeks to silence anyone who defends the rights of Palestinians or confronts its illegal practices.

He pointed out that the existence of UNRWA is linked to an international resolution issued by the United Nations, and therefore this targeting represents a challenge to international legitimacy, warning that the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will drag the region into new wars, which will have serious repercussions for everyone.

Al-Husseini called on the international community to take serious action to put an end to these repeated violations by Israel against UNRWA and the Palestinians in Jerusalem.

A major breach of the agreement signed between UNRWA and Israel

Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), expressed the agency's concern over media reports that the Israeli occupation intends to seize UNRWA's operations headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem, stressing that the agency has not received any official notification of this step yet.

Abu Hasna explained to "I" that the targeted headquarters is a main center for UNRWA operations in the West Bank, and includes sections of the agency's headquarters in the Middle East region and the five areas of operations.

He stressed that this targeting constitutes a major violation of the agreement signed between UNRWA and Israel following the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in 1967, which guarantees immunity for the agency and its employees.

Abu Hasna pointed out that this major escalation would hinder the implementation of humanitarian operations carried out by UNRWA, and increase the difficulty of providing vital services to Palestinian refugees in the region.

A stab to the Palestinian refugees politically and in terms of services

In turn, Sami Mshasha, an expert in international institutions, considered the decision of the Israeli occupation authorities to confiscate the land on which the main headquarters of UNRWA is located in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, and to transform the site into a settlement outpost comprising 1,440 housing units, a fatal nail in UNRWA’s coffin.

He described the recent Israeli decision to expel UNRWA from its vital headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem and build a settlement outpost as a direct stab at the Palestinian refugees politically and in terms of services.

Mshasha pointed out that this step represents the first shot towards expelling the agency from Jerusalem, from the Shuafat camp and the rest of UNRWA headquarters in the city, which includes its important medical headquarters within the walls of the Old City.

Mshasha explained that the Israel Lands Authority claims that the 36 dunams on which UNRWA headquarters are located in Jerusalem, which include 7 dunams of the official headquarters of the Commissioner-General and the operational headquarters of the West Bank region of UNRWA, claim that these lands were confiscated by the occupation in 2006.

He pointed out that the lands on which UNRWA headquarters and facilities are located in Jerusalem were given to it as a tenant by the Jordanian government when UNRWA was established in 1950, noting that the claim of the occupying state that these lands are owned by the "Israel Lands" Department is a false claim since they are part of occupied lands.

Imposing financial fines on UNRWA

He added: "To add salt to the wound, the Israel Lands Authority is demanding that UNRWA pay fines of tens of millions of shekels for violating the terms of the lease and building facilities in its headquarters without permits."

Mshasha warned that this step precedes the more dangerous step when the Knesset recess ends on the 28th of this month, as it is expected that members of the government coalition and the opposition will vote in the second and third readings on two decisions to declare UNRWA a terrorist organization and to cancel the headquarters agreement (the Comay-McClmore Agreement of 1967) between UNRWA and Israel, which gave UNRWA diplomatic immunities and privileges and the right to exist and provide services.

He also expected that the occupation authorities would follow this step by imposing new restrictions on UNRWA's work in the West Bank and other areas, which would constitute an existential threat to the right of Palestinian refugees to return.

A step that will be followed by rapid steps and procedures to restrict UNRWA's work

He said: These steps will be followed by rapid steps and procedures to restrict UNRWA's work in Areas B and C of the West Bank, where most of the refugees, camps and UNRWA facilities are located. This was preceded by ending UNRWA's presence in northern Gaza, restricting its work and preventing aid from entering southern and central Gaza except in small drops. This is in addition to the tireless efforts to demonize UNRWA, limit financial aid to it, and gradually work to transform it into an institution that seeks to settle refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan or any other country.

Mshasha added: This is the beginning of the end of the right of return, and those who believe that international law, international agreements, the United Nations, its General Assembly and its Security Council will curb and deter Israel are mistaken and living in a dream world.

"It is the law of the jungle," said Mshasha. "A comprehensive genocide broadcast live did not move the world to deter them, so neither our prayers against them, nor the slapping of hands, nor the hollow condemnation and false concern, nor the Secretary-General's annoyance, nor the anger of the Arab League and the statements of condemnation are of any use, and perhaps they will be humiliating to the refugees, and therefore their silence and silence will be much better."

The International Campaign to Defend Jerusalem Condemns the Occupation’s Decision

For his part, the General Coordinator of the International Campaign to Defend Jerusalem, Jawdat Manna, denounced the decision of the occupation authorities to seize the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, with its entire area estimated at 36 dunams, to build 1,440 settlement units on it, noting that the campaign issued a statement in which it considered the Israeli decision a blatant challenge to the United Nations, and poses a threat to its future.

Manaa told “Ya”: “The campaign is following up on the repercussions of this decision against a high-level diplomatic body, and what preceded it, and warns against infringing on the rights of Palestinian citizens in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and calls on its residents to be vigilant and unite to confront the ongoing and supposed dangers of their deportation.”

Manaa considered the confiscation of UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem as a cessation of its services to millions of Palestinian refugees living in 28 camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the cancellation of the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees living in Arab countries and in the diaspora since the Nakba in 1948.

He also urged local leaders in the refugee camps to play a leading role in confronting the Israeli decision that targets their human and national rights, stressing the importance of the role of the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in deterring Israel by taking legal measures and other means to prevent the confiscation of UNRWA offices and the land on which they are located, as they are officially registered in the Kingdom’s treasury, and are land belonging to the Palestinian Al-Jaouni family before they were confiscated by the British Mandate Government.

Manaa called on the Arab League to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the response to this Israeli decision in coordination with Jordan, the party that owns the land, calling on the United Nations to also take rapid legal measures to prevent the implementation of this plan.

He said: “The campaign urged in its statement the UN Security Council, the executive arm of the United Nations, to impose deterrent sanctions against rogue states, to prevent the Israeli occupation from implementing its plan for reasons, the most important of which are: First: The headquarters is located on the northwestern shoulder of the Old City of occupied Jerusalem. Second: The occupying state aims, by seizing the UNRWA headquarters, to besiege the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah next to the headquarters, which means returning the issue of the Palestinian residents of the neighborhood to square one in defending their homes and properties.

The third reason, according to Manaa, is that occupying the headquarters and controlling it for settlement purposes is the end of the battle between the United Nations and Israel, which means ending its services in a blatant challenge to the highest international body whose mission is to punish countries that rebel against its decisions and laws.

He continued: The fourth reason is that this decision comes in the context of liquidating the Palestinian cause through the war of genocide in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the ongoing attacks on UNRWA's service, health, and educational institutions, and the killing of employees, and the arrest of a number of them, including Israeli incitement against UNRWA.

War on the right of return

For his part, Rasem Obeidat, a member of the National and Civil Action Committee in Jerusalem, confirmed that Israel is seizing the main headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Refugee Agency (UNRWA) in Jerusalem, and will instead establish a settlement outpost that includes 1,440 settlement units.

He added: The Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee had taken a decision to "demonize" UNRWA, and consider it an illegal organization, and stressed the severing of relations between Israel and UNRWA, and considered its employees to be working with a "terrorist" organization that has the right to prosecute them, and also recommended the withdrawal of all political and economic privileges granted to UNRWA, thus canceling the agreement signed with the agency after the June 1967 war, which allowed it to work in Jerusalem.

He stressed that Israel did not just control the agency's headquarters, but also wanted to make the agency pay tens of millions of shekels, under the pretext that the land belongs to the so-called "Israel Lands Authority" and was used by the agency without its desire or consent.

"We realize that Israel is targeting the agency as a witness to its crime, expulsion and displacement of our Palestinian people. It wants to eliminate the agency and liquidate the right of return, and also so that no institutions of that agency remain in Jerusalem, in camps like Shuafat or educational, service and health institutions and community centers, because it considers Jerusalem its capital. How can it be its capital when there are refugee camps, activities and institutions of the Relief Agency?" Obeidat said.

Obaidat added: "It is a war on the right of return, and by liquidating the agency they want to transform the Palestinian issue into a humanitarian relief issue devoid of its political and national dimensions, and without placing burdens and repercussions on Israel as an occupying state that practiced expulsion, displacement and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people."

A systematic Israeli plan to liquidate the refugee issue

In turn, the Jerusalemite political analyst Hani Al-Issawi told “Y”: The targeting of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) by Israel comes within a systematic Israeli plan to liquidate the Palestinian refugee issue once and for all.

He explained that the Israeli demands to end UNRWA's work are part of its efforts to end the refugee issue, push the world to abandon it as if it no longer exists, and not to leave institutions that remind the international community of this problem.

Al-Issawi pointed out that the seizure of UNRWA headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem is part of these ongoing attempts, and is also linked to the ongoing incitement campaign against the agency, especially in the Gaza Strip, where UNRWA is accused of an alleged role in supporting the Palestinian resistance, despite the fact that the facts have proven the falsehood of these Israeli allegations.

Al-Issawi pointed out that Israel is targeting the main headquarters in Jerusalem because it is a thorn in the side of the Israeli occupation, as it separates the Israeli settlements that were established after the 1967 war from each other.

He pointed out that the occupation seeks to seize this vital site, as part of its plan to erase the refugee issue from its roots.

Al-Issawi stressed that the continuation of these attacks confirms that Israel will not back down from its attempts to end the existence of UNRWA, which represents a symbol of the continuation of the Palestinian refugee issue.