UNRWA: In the Circle of Conspiracy and Wrong Targeting!!

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is subject to attempts to reduce its services and erase its identity as a witness to the Nakba that befell the Palestinians since 1948.

Israel began its conspiracy against UNRWA a long time ago, but it did not succeed in marketing its pretexts to the international community and its international organizations that sponsor this issue. Palestinians, and demanded the cessation of cooperation with it and the end of its role, and the claim that its continuity of existence will impede finding a solution to the refugee issue and the Palestinian cause in general!!

In fact, for the Palestinian refugees, UNRWA is not only an entity that provides relief and humanitarian services, but rather it is a historical witness to their forced displacement, and the tragedies of displacement, forms of occupation and aggression that they have been subjected to for more than seven decades. The agency's first goal - as it is known - is to assist and protect Palestinian refugees, and to secure work for them in its areas of operations until a just solution to their case is reached.

From here, the dimensions of the Zionist conspiracy against UNRWA become clear, and that the purpose behind the attempts to remove it from the political, humanitarian and legal map is a malicious process to erase the “right of return” of more than six million refugees. More than one Palestinian official has clarified this issue, saying: There is a conspiracy against the refugee issue led by the Zionist lobby, which exerted pressure on the ruling institutions and parliaments in order to push their governments to stop paying their contributions to UNRWA, and to create financial crises for it, which prompted it to reduce its services and provoke demonstrations against it. The plans and attempts to put pressure on UNRWA are purely political in order to undermine the refugee issue and end it away from international resolutions. This was previously recognized by John King; The former director of the Agency’s operations, by saying: “UNRWA” is targeted by the opponents of the Palestinian people, and these opponents want to end its role, as it expresses the identity of the refugees and their cause remains alive.. indicating that the right of return will not be taken away from the Palestinians and will remain in place, as long as there are refugees. And UNRWA will remain a witness to that.

In fact, Israel has succeeded - relatively - in its conspiratorial attempts to reduce subsidies and create confusion and financial crises during the era of former US President Trump. This affected the image of UNRWA in the eyes of Palestinian refugees, especially in the Gaza Strip, and moved their masses to protest and demonstrate in a remarkable way. There was a fear that the motives of this discontent might be misunderstood, and that it would deviate from its aim, which is to deliver messages to remind the agency of the "assignment mission" for which it is working.

Unfortunately, there have been cases of targeting and accusing some UNRWA officials, while many Palestinian politicians know that the repercussions of the Zionist conspiracy are beyond the capacity of these officials, who have spared no effort to secure UNRWA's basic needs and development budgets. Among those unjustly accused was Philippe Lazzarini; The new Commissioner-General of UNRWA, who spared no effort to move with the Europeans to bring more support to secure the stability of the agency's financial conditions, and this is what he succeeded in achieving, despite the decline in the status of the Palestinian cause on the international agenda.

Despite all forms of Zionist conspiracy that posed an existential threat to UNRWA, the moves and campaigns undertaken by Commissioner-General Lazrini to collect money for the agency have paid off, as the year 2022 witnessed an important breakthrough in the process of sustainable financing for more than a year, which is considered one of the radical solutions. The agency's financial crisis, as the conference of donor countries held in Brussels at the end of the year 2021 constituted a first advanced stage towards a solution, and this is a shift that inspires stability and optimism.

A testimony to history.. The Palestinians, whether through their official identity represented by the Liberation Organization or as a whole of the forces, parties and clans, have preserved and preserved the survival of UNRWA to remain as an international address bearing witness to their calamity, and the relations between the Palestinian component inside and outside the camps and the agency’s presidency in its areas of operations have remained during the past seven decades. It is characterized by mutual respect and appreciation, in order to provide services to Palestinian refugees within the mandate granted by the United Nations General Assembly, which is renewed every three years. From here, the Agency's general administration, as well as the host authorities represented by the Palestinian National Authority, as well as the Palestinian forces and factions and the government in the Gaza Strip, are required to maintain this delicate relationship, in order for the Agency to continue its work and survival until achieving the goals for which it was established.

Based on the foregoing, it is important to mention that the reality of the Palestinian division has negatively affected the agency’s relationship with Palestinian society. From a formal point of view, the agency is legally obligated to preserve the laws of the host country, according to which the agency implements the decisions of the Palestinian Authority without sometimes considering the decisions and recommendations of administrations. Hence, some problems occur on the ground, whether in the field of education or health, especially during the imposition of specific strikes to express a political reality. Education and health services for Palestinian refugees. Accordingly; We are required to deal with the agency professionally and with great flexibility in this field.

Therefore, in the face of this reality that we Palestinians live in, it is important to take the following things into account:

Firstly; We, as Palestinians, must preserve the continuity of the agency's work, as it is the only witness to our calamity, and this should be done by facilitating its work, not demonizing it, and understanding some of its demands.

secondly; Maintaining a hotline to deal with the agency represented by a conscious and balanced personality who knows well the nature of the work of international institutions, and is professionally skilled at overcoming any obstacles that may occur during the agency's implementation of its operations.

Third; The higher managements of the agency must draw up their policy with a kind of flexibility and understanding regarding the natural inclinations of their employees. They must understand that the Palestinian problem has not yet found a solution, and that the Palestinian has national aspirations and a patriotic feeling that resides in his conscience, and he is fond of the love of his country before he worked in the agency as an employee. .

The observer of the agency's work during its long history notes that it has gone through strong administrations that vigorously defended the Palestinian right in international forums, and did not allow some institutions that might be linked to private agendas to harm the agency's reputation, impartiality, and the neutrality of its employees.

In conclusion, I say: UNRWA provides great services to the Palestinian people that the official Palestinian institutions or even the Palestinian parties and forces are unable to provide.. From here, it is required to preserve the agency and its survival, as the conspiracy against it and its existence is very big. As a Palestinian refugee, UNRWA represents my mother and father to me, the pen that wrote my consciousness and my culture, and the safe haven that preserved my dignity and granted me a place among peoples and nations, and it still preserves in its records the most important document that belongs to me as a Palestinian, which is the “right of return.”