UNRWA head warns Trump peace plan could lead to West Bank violence
UNRWA has been the primary organization servicing Palestinian refugees since 1949. The US and Israel have worked to discredit the organization.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFPalestinian employees of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a protest against job cuts by UNRWA, in Gaza City September 19, 2018. (photo credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)
The Trump administration’s “Deal of the Century” could lead to Palestinian violence, warned UNRWA acting commissioner-general Christian Saunders, speaking to journalists in Geneva.Many Palestinians are in a state of “shock” and “disbelief" over the plan, he said.“What will happen after the shock wears off?” Saunders pondered. “We have serious concerns it will result in an escalation of clashes and violence,” he said.Saunders spoke in Geneva on Friday as he launched the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s $1.4 billion appeal for 2020 to help 5.6 million Palestinian refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.UNRWA has been the primary organization servicing Palestinian refugees since 1949. The US and Israel have worked to discredit the organization. The US ended all funding to UNRWA in 2018, warning that it was an inefficient agency that was creating an ever-expanding class of refugees by also granting that status to the children of Palestinians who fled their homes during the 1948 and 1967 wars. Trump’s peace plan charges that UNRWA had “exacerbated the refugee crisis.” The plan stated that, “under any circumstance, individuals who have already resettled in a permanent location (to be further defined in the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement) will not be eligible for resettlement, and will be eligible only for compensation as described below.”The “Deal of the Century" calls for the creation of the Palestinian Refugee Trust to fund services for Palestinian refugees. While the plan says it would recognize UNRWA's list of 5.6 million Palestinian refugees, they would not have the ability to resettle in sovereign Israel. They would either be absorbed in the Palestinian state or settled in other countries. Once an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is signed, UNRWA would cease to exist, the plan states.“Upon the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement, Palestinian refugee status will cease to exist, and UNRWA will be terminated and its responsibilities transitioned to the relevant governments," the plan states. It added that all Palestinian refugee camps would be dismantled and replaced with permanent housing.When quizzed about the plan and its position on Palestinian refugees, Saunders said that the UN and not the United States was the relevant factor here.UNRWA’s mandate is set by the UN General Assembly, he said, and the definition of who are Palestinian refugees and what rights they have has also been determined by the UN, he said.
“This is enshrined in international law and various general assembly resolutions,” Saunders said.UNRWA is a humanitarian organization and is not mandated to participate in the peace talks, the commissioner-general said. But it does have a critical mandate to protect the rights of the Palestinian refugees, he added. Those rights “under international law have not changed."
