International employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) left the international organization’s headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem after their Israeli permits expired, as the Israeli occupation’s decision to ban UNRWA’s work came into effect last Thursday, while local employees did not show up at the agency’s headquarters in the holy city.

The occupation authorities announced the seizure of the land on which the UNRWA headquarters is located in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, and the transformation of the site into a colonial outpost containing 1,440 housing units.

Politicians, writers and analysts who spoke to Al-Quds said that ending the agency’s work would lead to a deterioration in the living conditions of more than 110,000 Jerusalemite refugees living below the poverty line. They considered Israel’s success in implementing its decision to be a damning testimony and a stain on the forehead of the international system that claims to protect legitimacy.

The decision to ban UNRWA is invalid and deepens the suffering of Palestinian refugees

Hatem Abdel Qader, Secretary-General of the Islamic Christian Authority for the Support of Jerusalem and the Holy Sites, believes that the decision to ban UNRWA is a stain on the forehead of the Israeli occupation state, and confirms the terrorist nature of Israel and its legislative institutions.

He added that the decision is also a challenge to the international community and a disregard for international organizations, stressing that it is an illegal and invalid decision.

Abdul Qader pointed out that the decision will lead to a worsening of the living and humanitarian conditions of millions of Palestinian refugees who depend on UNRWA for education, health care, and food distribution.

He stressed that the agency must reject this decision, not comply with it, and continue its work, while pointing out at the same time the responsibility that falls on the international community.

The necessity of the intervention of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority

He explained that the international community must assume its legal and humanitarian responsibility to protect the role of UNRWA and ensure the continuation of its work until justice is achieved for the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights are realised.

He also called for the intervention of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian National Authority to support the educational sector and educational institutions within the city of Jerusalem, and to prevent the Israeli occupation from controlling them, as ending the agency’s work aims to Judaize the educational sector, which includes thousands of Palestinian students, especially in Jerusalem.

He stressed the need to launch an international campaign, led by Arab and Islamic countries, to cancel this decision and pressure the international community to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation to back down from it.

Abdul Qader concluded his speech by stressing that the ball is now in the court of the United Nations and international organizations, which must defend their existence and legitimacy in the face of this Israeli arrogance and excess.

The occupation adopted two laws to strike UNRWA, not one

For his part, Sami Mshasha, an expert in international institutions, warned of the escalating risks facing Palestinians in the occupied territories, describing them as “complex, successive and cumulative,” and striking at the heart of national constants, most notably “Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital and the right of return,” which are being subjected to the most violent shock since the Nakba of 1948.

Mshasha pointed out that the Israeli occupation began implementing the Knesset law targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jerusalem, as the occupation's Supreme Court refused to freeze the law, justifying its decision by saying that Jerusalem is considered a "sovereign area" according to Israeli legislation, despite its conflict with international law. He pointed out that the occupation government and its municipality in Jerusalem have made efforts over the past three months to find alternatives to UNRWA services.

Mshasha explained that the Israeli occupation adopted two laws to strike UNRWA, not one law, with a dual goal; the first targets Jerusalem, to establish it as the capital of the occupation and prevent any international presence that reflects a different international position. He added: "The law has already begun to be implemented, as about 500 employees were prevented from entering UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem, and about 40 international employees were forced to leave the city. The UNRWA clinic in the Old City was also closed, leaving Jerusalemite patients without treatment alternatives.

The occupation follows a policy of "gradual nibbling" to liquidate UNRWA's existence

He pointed out that the occupation is following a policy of "gradual nibbling" in implementing this law, as it may keep UNRWA schools and the Qalandia Vocational Training Institute operating until the end of the current academic year, before closing them with the start of the new academic year next September.

He stressed that ending the agency's work would lead to a deterioration in the living conditions of more than 110,000 Jerusalemite refugees living below the poverty line.

“The first law is just a prelude to the second law, which aims to dismantle UNRWA’s ability to operate in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, by preventing it from importing its needs through Israeli ports, lifting its tax exemptions, imposing restrictions on issuing visas to its international employees, restricting the movement of its Palestinian employees, obstructing its work in areas classified as (B) and (C), and intensifying attacks on Palestinian camps in the West Bank,” Mish’sha added.

Mshasha pointed out that the occupation aims through these measures to eliminate UNRWA politically and symbolically, and gradually weaken the right of return, by replacing its services to ensure that there is no service vacuum. He stressed that UNRWA today suffers from political and service paralysis, in the absence of any international, Arab or Palestinian plan to protect it, stressing that there is a serious American effort to implement a plan to deport Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Seizing UNRWA headquarters reflects the inability of the international system

In turn, Nidal Al-Azzeh, Director of the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Citizenship and Refugee Rights, said that the image and implications of the seizure of UNRWA headquarters are a condensed embodiment of the state of the Palestinian cause since the Nakba. On the one hand, this illegal and immoral seizure reflects Israeli arrogance in not respecting, and even treating with contempt, international law and international bodies.

He added: On the other hand, this seizure shows the extent of the inability of the international system, whether as bodies, institutions or countries, in the face of American hegemony and Western collusion.

Al-Azzeh stressed that Israel would not have been able to proceed with its measures without American support. The day before yesterday, the American representative to the Security Council thwarted the possibility of taking practical measures to prevent Israel from enforcing its laws. The delegation considered that the closure of UNRWA is a purely sovereign issue, and Israel has the right to dispose of it as it pleases.

He pointed out that other Western countries evaded their words or rejected the laws and were content to emphasize the importance of UNRWA, but in both cases they did not take any real action to pressure Israel to stop implementing its measures.

On the third hand, according to Al-Azza, this seizure calls for a serious Palestinian review of the strategy of appealing to international legitimacy to protect the rights of refugees and protect UNRWA, and prevent the liquidation of the entire issue.

He said: "The Palestinian people and their rights are in a very delicate phase that requires activating the maximum popular, institutional, organizational and political efforts, and employing the most effective struggle tools in order to stop the state of collapse and preserve rights.

He stressed the need not to be satisfied with the strategy of appeal, or bet on flawed diplomacy, or wait for the results of elections in Israel or America that are different from the usual.

He stressed the need for self-reliance, as the fault lies not in the unjust world, because it has always been unjust, nor in the double standards, which have historically been a policy designed to serve the interests of dominant countries and their allies. The fault lies in the failure to mobilize self-efforts.

An organized, continuous, escalating and pressuring popular movement is required.

Al-Azza believed that what was required was to prevent the implementation of the UNRWA replacement project, and that would be by prohibiting the work of any institution or country that assumes the responsibilities and tasks of UNRWA.

He said: What is required is for civil institutions and companies to refrain from dealing with the state and international donor institutions that have begun implementing the replacement project, adding: “What is required is an organized, continuous, escalating, and pressuring popular movement in various directions.

Al-Azzeh explained that dealing with the liquidation of UNRWA as a crisis is a flaw, and said: We need a Palestinian strategy for struggle, because the issue is not merely the continuation of education services, health care, social services programs, and emergency relief. These are services that other countries or institutions can provide, but what is more important is the international mandate of the responsible international body to preserve the political and legal dimensions of the refugee issue. Otherwise, the issue will be transformed into a humanitarian relief issue and nothing more.

The next stage will include banning UNRWA in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Researcher and political analyst Adel Shadid believes that if the decision regarding the Relief Agency in the occupied city of Jerusalem is implemented, the next stage will also include its implementation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, by controlling the entry of institutions, employees and members of the Relief Agency, and then controlling the aid that reaches them.

Shadid stressed that passing the law through the Knesset reflects two basic matters: First, that Israel is the one that decides through its parliament, not the United Nations or international institutions. Second, that this decision restores the complete occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip by controlling every detail of life, weakening the role of the Palestinian Authority, and preventing international institutions from working in accordance with United Nations resolutions, whose work cannot be stopped or closed except by a UN resolution after resolving the refugee issue and implementing International Resolution No. 194.

He pointed out that Israel believes that it can liquidate the refugee issue by ending the work of UNRWA.

Shadid added: “What is more dangerous than that, especially in the Gaza Strip, is that stopping the work of the Relief Agency - if it happens in the future - will lead to the creation of a state of vacuum and chaos, a vacuum that no international, local or regional institution is capable of filling or forming an alternative to.”

Increasing the suffering of the population in Gaza

He said: "From an Israeli perspective, this decision achieves two main goals: the first is the collapse of the ruling authority in the Gaza Strip, specifically Hamas, and increasing the suffering of the population through starvation and the spread of epidemics and diseases, which may lead, according to the Israeli vision, to the migration of the residents of the Gaza Strip abroad.

As for the liquidation of UNRWA in the Arab countries, Shadid believes that if Israel continues to pursue the international institution in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, this means the final liquidation of the Palestinian cause by ending the refugee issue, especially since the refugees, the camps and the presence of UNRWA still represent the last witness to the catastrophe of the Palestinian people in 1948.

UNRWA is part of the United Nations and is responsible for its protection.

For his part, researcher and writer interested in Jerusalem affairs, Aziz Al-Assa, confirmed that UNRWA is an international organization affiliated with the United Nations, and therefore it is responsible for preserving it and protecting it from any attack.

He considered that what the occupation was doing constituted a blatant attack on a prestigious international organization with roots extending back eight decades and enjoying international immunity.

He added: "This attack constitutes another form of war crimes that the Palestinian people are being subjected to," noting that preventing the agency from performing its duties will lead to the complete deprivation of the Palestinians of its services, suddenly and without prior warning, which will lead to the collapse of the daily life system for the affected groups, who were forcibly displaced from their homes about eight decades ago.

Al-Assa pointed out that the agency is like a "seal holder" that preserves the right of return and compensation for this segment of the Palestinian people, which is a right guaranteed by international legitimacy.

The occupation will seek to control UNRWA schools and impose its curricula

He stressed that Israel's success in implementing its decision is a damning testimony and a stain on the forehead of the international system, which claims to protect legitimacy when it comes to weak peoples and nations, but stands by as a spectator when the aggressor is a force of injustice and occupation.

Regarding the repercussions of the decision on service institutions, Al-Assa indicated that the occupation will impose its control over the services that UNRWA was providing, and will impose its hostile conditions on the affected Palestinians, which will lead to the aggravation of their living conditions.

On the education front, Al-Assa expected that the occupation would seek to impose its control over UNRWA schools and impose Judaization curricula by force and intellectual terrorism, which requires urgent action from all Palestinian decision-makers to develop an emergency plan capable of filling the void that will be left by UNRWA’s forced withdrawal.

Al-Assa stressed that the absence of this national plan will allow the occupation to implement its plans aimed at Judaizing Jerusalem on the one hand, and creating a structural imbalance in Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on the other hand, calling for urgent Palestinian, Arab and international action to confront these looming dangers.

UNRWA cannot be replaced by any other humanitarian organization.

Dr. Ali Al-Awar, a specialist in resolving regional and international conflicts, believes that the Israeli position on the period allowed by the Israeli law, which was approved by the Knesset, to ban UNRWA’s activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is not new, but rather dates back to the first term of US President Donald Trump, who worked with Netanyahu to stop and freeze support for UNRWA, as part of a plan to dismantle it.

He said: "UNRWA provides humanitarian, educational and health services, in addition to its role in Palestinian camps in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem."

Al-Awar pointed out that after October 7, the Israeli decision came to ban the activities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jerusalem. He asked: "Is there an international body capable of carrying out UNRWA's tasks? Are there American bodies that can provide an alternative to it?" He answered: "In my estimation, UNRWA cannot be replaced by any other humanitarian organization, because it was established by a United Nations resolution in 1949."

He explained that Israel, by imposing a set of laws, ignores international law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions, noting that US President Donald Trump gave Israel additional power to control UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem.

Dismantling UNRWA serves the plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause

He added: "The Israeli extreme right is well aware that dismantling UNRWA and banning its activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem serves the plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, given UNRWA's connection to the Palestinian refugee issue, which is the core of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and includes the right of return approved by Security Council Resolution 194.

Al-Awar continued: "We are facing a legal problem, and perhaps Trump's presence in power again may allow Israel to continue its policies against UNRWA, by preventing its employees from reaching their places of work in East Jerusalem and the West Bank."

Regarding the repercussions of the Israeli decision to ban UNRWA in the West Bank and take control of its headquarters in East Jerusalem, Al-Awar said: “In my estimation, this Israeli behavior may lead to a state of turmoil in the West Bank and may ignite a third intifada, especially since the Palestinian camps in the West Bank and East Jerusalem depend on UNRWA to provide basic services, such as education and health.”

He stressed that Israel's decision could create a political and popular vacuum in the Palestinian street, expecting widespread Palestinian rejection of the decision and preventing UNRWA employees from reaching the West Bank camps.

Al-Awar concluded his speech by saying: “We are facing regional and international changes, but they are certainly linked to the fate of the Palestinian people. I believe that Israel’s control over UNRWA’s headquarters and the ban on its activities in the West Bank may be the spark that ignites a third Palestinian uprising.”