51猎奇

17 July 2025

AMMAN?–?Last week, a proposed amendment to the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) laws against UNRWA was published.

The amendment proposed by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure contains two key proposals against UNRWA in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly targeting East Jerusalem:

• Prohibiting service providers from supplying UNRWA installations with water and electricity.
• Seizing of land on which the West Bank Field Office in Sheikh Jarrah and the Kalandia Training Centre near Qalandiya Camp are located. If implemented, this would allow for the confiscation of the land without any additional legal proceedings.

All UNRWA installations are United Nations premises and are protected by the privileges and immunities of the United Nations. The legislative action being taken against UNRWA and its presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, is unprecedented and violates Israel’s obligations as a United Nations member state under the UN Charter.

This amendment threatens to further debilitate UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank, after the forced closure of six of the Agency’s schools in East Jerusalem two months ago. In particular, critical services to more than 200,000 Palestine Refugees in East Jerusalem are now at stake.

It is the duty of the international community at large to uphold UNRWA’s humanitarian space, to ensure unhindered service provision, and to protect the rights of Palestine Refugees.