Sheikh Akram Sabri: The decision strips refugees of their rights and is an attempt to erase the right of return

Dr. Ahmad Tibi: Part of the Israeli war and efforts to get UNRWA out of the law

Bishop Atallah Hanna: A step within a plan to conspire against the Palestinian people and the right of return

Rasim Obeidat: A dangerous and unprecedented decision that paves the way for preventing the provision of services to refugees

Lawyer Mohammed Dahla: The law is a challenge to international legitimacy and places Israel above the authority of the United Nations

Osama Al-Sharif: Israel is trying to get out of its wars with "victories", including banning UNRWA

The Israeli Knesset’s approval of a law banning UNRWA the day before yesterday was met with widespread condemnation, amid warnings of the law’s significant and dangerous effects on UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and in the Gaza Strip, which is suffering from widespread destruction of all aspects of life as a result of the ongoing Israeli war of extermination there for more than a year.

Religious and public figures and analysts who spoke to “I” considered the new Israeli law to be dangerous and unprecedented, and that it places Israel above the authority of the United Nations, by whose decision Israel was established, as part of a broader Israeli plan to liquidate the refugee issue and eliminate the right of return.

They see this decision as part of the broader war on the Palestinian people, and that it will lead to the collapse of the humanitarian operations system of the UN agencies in the Palestinian territories, and deprive the Palestinian refugees who live in tragic and catastrophic conditions in the refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip of the basic services provided to them, including education, health and social services.

They stress that the United Nations is facing another difficult test for all its laws, treaties and charters, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government have disregarded. They believe that the world’s silence on this blatant violation means that the international community is dependent on racist Israeli policies that have reached the point of committing genocide against the Palestinian people before the eyes of the world.

Israeli strategy to end the refugee issue

Sheikh Dr. Akram Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem, condemned the Israeli occupation’s decision targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and threatening its work in the occupied Palestinian territories, describing it as an attempt to erase the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.

Sabry explained that UNRWA, as an international humanitarian institution, is concerned with providing health, social and educational services to refugees, and represents a symbol of the rights of Palestinian refugees until they return to their land.

Sabry stressed that tampering with UNRWA's work in Jerusalem and the occupied territories means, indirectly, stripping the Palestinians of their historical rights, stressing that "the right of return is a sacred right that cannot be relinquished, and will remain in place and passed down from generation to generation."

He added that the decision reflects an Israeli strategy aimed at ending the refugee issue once and for all, in an effort to remove this file from the conflict arena.

Sabry pointed out that closing UNRWA offices would deprive Palestinian refugees of the basic services they depend on, especially in the areas of health, education and social services, which would create great difficulties for thousands of refugees living in the occupied territories and relying on UNRWA services in their daily lives.

Political targeting of refugees and their rights

Arab Knesset member Dr. Ahmed Tibi stressed that the ongoing Israeli attack on UNRWA for years aims to undermine the rights of Palestinian refugees and distort their struggle.

He explained that the Israeli government and the Knesset are systematically seeking to remove UNRWA from the law, in a political move that shows a lack of recognition of the Palestinian people.

Al-Tibi added that the accusations promoted by the Israeli government linking UNRWA to terrorism are fabricated, indicating that the agency has been working for decades to provide humanitarian, educational and relief services to more than 90,000 employees and one million Palestinian refugees in the camps.

He considered that Israel is enacting this law as part of its broad war against the Palestinians, citing the outcome of the recent Israeli aggression that claimed the lives of thousands of children and women, in addition to the destruction of schools and hospitals.

Tibi also expressed his pride in his position and the position of the Arab members of the Knesset who stood against this law, noting that Netanyahu's government ignores the protests of the foreign ministers of Western countries, Israel's allies, and continues to enact "fascist and inhumane" laws with continuous international support.

UN Calls to Go Beyond Statements of Condemnation

Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Archbishop of Sebastia of the Greek Orthodox Church, denounced the decision to ban UNRWA from operating in Jerusalem and the occupied territories, describing this decision as part of an ongoing conspiracy against the Palestinian people and their historical rights, especially the right of return.

Hanna called on the United Nations to go beyond statements of condemnation and denunciation, and take more effective and practical steps to confront this measure, which he described as a direct targeting of the Palestinian cause.

Bishop Hanna pointed out that UNRWA represents a living witness to the Palestinian people’s catastrophe and displacement, which makes the decision to ban it a direct violation of the right of return and a targeting of the symbolism of the institution that was established to provide basic services to Palestinian refugees and defend their rights.

Hanna said: The forces implementing this decision are the same ones committing massacres against the Palestinians in Gaza and launching attacks on Lebanon, noting that targeting UNRWA is targeting the entire Palestinian cause and the right of refugees to return to their homes.

Serious implications of the decision

Jerusalemite writer and political analyst, Rassem Obeidat, described the decision of the Israeli occupation government to ban the activities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jerusalem, the 1948 territories, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a dangerous and unprecedented decision.

The decision, which was voted on by the Knesset by a majority of 90 votes to 10 votes, includes the cancellation of the agreement signed with UNRWA after 1967 that allows it to operate in Jerusalem, and paves the way for the occupation to seize its headquarters and prevent it from providing its services to Palestinian refugees.

Obaidat explained that this decision has serious repercussions, as it brazenly and blatantly violates the decisions of international institutions, foremost among which is the United Nations General Assembly, which established this agency to care for and provide services to our people’s refugees from the 1948 areas in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and refugee camps in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.

According to Obeidat, the decision represents a step towards liquidating UNRWA and preventing it from providing its services or carrying out any direct or indirect activities.

The new resolution considers UNRWA an illegal organization, which withdraws diplomatic and economic privileges granted to its employees, and prevents any official communication between the agency and the occupation government.

He said: The decision targeting the UN agency, which is a witness to the occupation's crimes against our people, is intended to liquidate the Relief Agency once and for all, which would cancel and nullify the right of return for the Palestinian people who were displaced and expelled from their land.

The decision comes with American support.

Obaidat believes that the decision comes under American support, such that this American partner covers up the crimes of the occupation, and it is necessary for this decision to put the membership of the occupying state in the United Nations to the test, as it made a UN decision from the United Nations General Assembly, and therefore work must be done to cancel its membership in the United Nations General Assembly and strip it of its legitimacy.

He continued, saying: “The decision was also accompanied by the approval of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee to seize the agency’s main headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, to establish a new settlement that includes the construction of 1,440 settlement units on the way to Judaizing the city and tightening control over it. This is inseparable from the decision of the extremist Smotrich, the occupation’s Finance Minister, to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, describing this as the madness of Zionist extremism and criminality supported by America and Western Europe in light of the complete collapse of the official Arab system and the unprecedented failure of the international community.”

Obaidat believes that the decision entails the dangers of seeking to liquidate the Palestinian cause from all sides through policies of Judaization, expulsion, displacement, killing, destruction, and displacement through geographical and demographic “engineering.”

Dangerous and unprecedented law

Lawyer Mohammed Dahla, who specializes in Israeli affairs, described the new law, which aims to prevent the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from operating in Jerusalem, as an unprecedented step in the history of Israel. He explained that this law prohibits UNRWA, which has been operating in the region for decades under a UN mandate, from providing its services or carrying out its activities, whether directly or indirectly, inside Israel, including East and West Jerusalem.

Dahla stressed that "the Israeli Knesset, by enacting this law, is putting itself in a position that goes beyond the authority of the United Nations," adding that the law aims to change the reality that has persisted for many years in Jerusalem, which Dahla describes as a clear challenge to international legitimacy.

The Israeli Supreme Court is unlikely to cancel the decision.

Regarding the possibility of going to the Israeli Supreme Court to challenge the law, Dahla explained that it is unlikely that the court will intervene to cancel it, noting that the Israeli Supreme Court rarely cancels Knesset laws except in exceptional cases related to violations of basic human rights, while the court does not see that Israel’s violation of international obligations constitutes sufficient reason to intervene.

Dahla concluded his remarks by pointing out that the burden now falls on the United Nations, saying: “The United Nations, by whose resolution Israel was established, must play its role in confronting this blatant violation of international law and punishing Israel for ignoring its international obligations.”

Burial of one of the most important pillars of the Palestinian cause

Jordanian political analyst Osama Al-Sharif confirmed that Israel is trying to emerge from its wars with a bouquet of alleged victories, including banning the work of UNRWA, which is a goal aimed at burying one of the most important pillars of the Palestinian cause, which is the return of refugees or the right of return in its political sense, which is one of the thorny issues of the final solution.

He said: It is no secret to anyone that dismantling the Palestinian issue and stripping it of any substance are among the goals of Netanyahu's plan and the far-right alliance, and that includes ending UNRWA's powers.

He pointed out that the repercussions of the ban are serious for Palestinian society in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially in Gaza.

He said: The issue is not limited to UNRWA's responsibilities in terms of relief only, which is a priority in light of the devastating war on Gaza, especially in the north, but rather in what the organization provides in terms of other services such as education, for example, explaining that no other party can replace UNRWA.

He said that there is a deep humanitarian disaster surrounding hundreds of thousands of Palestinians as a result of this decision.

Will Israel be punished?

On the other hand, Al-Sharif considered the decision to be a challenge to the United Nations, the Security Council and the General Assembly, asking: Will Israel be punished for evading its obligations as an occupying state? Will America stand up to defend this blatant violation? And what next?

He said: If Israel succeeds in its endeavor, it means the collapse of the international system sponsored by America. Will the United States sacrifice its role as the sponsor of the international system for the sake of an extremist Zionist gang?

Al-Sharif stressed: We are facing another difficult test for all the laws, treaties and covenants that Netanyahu has ignored, noting that the world’s silence on this violation means that the international community is dependent on heresies that have reached the point of exterminating the Palestinian people and stripping them of their humanity under American protection.

Al-Sharif added: We are facing a historic moment that heralds the collapse of the entire global system.