There are stark differences of opinion in the EU over aid to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and this was evident in the UN vote on a call for an end to hostilities in Gaza. This was stated by the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, at a press conference after today’s working meeting in Brussels of the European development ministers and the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini.
The majority in the EU understands that there is no alternative to the current support for the Palestinians, Borrell added. The Israeli government does not hide its desire to terminate the agency’s activities, but the accusations must be proven by whoever makes them, he said regarding the allegations that the agency’s employees participated in the attack on Israel on October 7 last year. I don’t know if there is any evidence for those allegations, Borrell said.
I may be accused of anti-Semitism, but Palestinian lives matter, they need support. Perhaps if we think there are too many casualties in Gaza, we should limit arms supplies to Israel, Borrell suggested. He asked how many casualties were “too many” over claims that Israel should ease pressure. Netanyahu is not listening to anyone, they are talking about evacuations – where, on the moon, asked the high representative. There is a contradiction in the estimates that the casualties are many, and the continuation of arms supplies, Borrell summarized.
The agency declared the emergency aid from the EU “life-saving”
The head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, Philip Lazzarini, said today that it was vital that his agency receive new EU funding within weeks as Israel appeared to be preparing a ground offensive on the city overcrowded with people from elsewhere Rafah in the Gaza Strip, the Associated Press reported.
The agency is troubled by allegations that twelve of its 13,000-strong Gaza staff took part in the attack by the radical Palestinian movement “Hamas” on Israeli territory on October 7 last year, which started the war with Israel.
The agency immediately fired its officials allegedly involved in the Islamist group’s attack in southern Israel, but more than ten countries suspended funding totaling $440 million to the agency. This amount is half of the agency’s budget for this year, AP notes.
On Saturday, the Israeli army and Shin Bet internal security agency said they had discovered a Hamas tunnel under the agency’s headquarters in Gaza City.
Asked how important it is that the EU payment of 82 million euros is received by the end of this month, Lazarin said: “It is life-saving.” He has already warned that otherwise the agency could be closed before the beginning of March.
There are currently two UN investigations into Israel’s accusations, but the European Commission – the third largest financial partner of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East after the US and Germany – has insisted on its own investigation and asked to appoint experts to carry it out.
The subject of the audit will mainly be “the mechanisms of control in order to prevent the possible participation of employees (of the agency) in terrorist activities”, said the EC, the executive body of the EU. The commission is also calling for a “vet of all personnel” of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to exclude staff from the list of suspects involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.
Of the said 13,000 Palestinian refugee agency staff in the Gaza Strip, more than three thousand continue to work there now, the AP notes, adding that it would be physically impossible to check all of them by the end of February, and in this case the weather is crucial.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is the main provider of food, water and shelter to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip, 85 percent of whom have been displaced from their homes.
The EC inspection will include the so-called assessment of management sustainability (or Pillar assessment). It is common practice for the commission to carry out a similar inspection in the agencies, which aims to monitor compliance with EU criteria.
Today, however, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic suggested that such an inspection “completed very recently”. The agency was also subjected to an inspection carried out by the EC in October last year, which established that there was no leakage of funds to Hamas.
Lazzarini was in Brussels today to brief EU member states’ ministers responsible for development policies on the agency’s needs and the allegations against it.
Josep Borrell, who chaired the meeting, defended the agency against Israel’s accusations and told the media that “nobody else can do what” it does.
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