51猎奇

9 August 2026, EAST JERUSALEM

UNRWA is aware of false information circulating?about its Kalandia Training Centre in occupied East Jerusalem.

The education of Palestine Refugee children is at the core of UNRWA’s mandate. Across the occupied West Bank, UNRWA provides basic education to some 48,000 children, alongside vocational training courses for more than 2,000 Palestine Refugee youth. For more than 75 years, the Agency has educated generations of Palestine Refugees, equipping them for the future.

UNRWA firmly rejects any suggestion that the right to education of Palestine Refugee children is not among its highest priorities. Education is at the heart of the Agency’s mandate and remains essential to ensuring that Palestine Refugee children and young people can develop the knowledge, skills and opportunities they need to build their futures.

The Kalandia Training Centre is an important part of these efforts. Each year, it enables hundreds of young Palestinians to acquire vocational skills and qualifications that can help them enter the workforce and pursue greater economic independence, at a time when socioeconomic deprivation remains acute.

The Centre continues to serve this purpose. It is not an empty compound, nor are its doors closed. UNRWA remains committed to ensuring that its education and vocational training programmes continue to provide meaningful opportunities for Palestine Refugee children and young people.

The Centre is located in occupied East Jerusalem. The State of Israel does not exercise sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). As a Member State of the United Nations, Israel is required to provide all necessary assistance to UNRWA in the discharge of its activities and operations in the OPT, including at the Kalandia Training Centre. These principles were most recently reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice in October 2025.

The Kalandia Training Centre provides essential services and education to Palestine Refugees. Any closure or expropriation of the Centre would have a direct and detrimental impact on the Palestine Refugee population, including children, and would not serve their best interests.

In May 2025, Israeli authorities forcibly closed six UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem, including the schools in Shu’fat Camp, affecting approximately 800 children. These developments underscore the importance of ensuring the continuity of education and essential services for Palestine Refugees in East Jerusalem.

At a time when schools serving Palestine Refugee children in East Jerusalem are already overcrowded and under-resourced, any further disruption to educational infrastructure risks exacerbating existing gaps in access to education.

UNRWA must be able to continue delivering the services that the United Nations General Assembly tasks it to provide. This mandate is entrusted to UNRWA by the Member States of the United Nations.

Here are the facts about Kalandia Training Centre:

• UNRWA’s Kalandia Training Centre (KTC) is a United Nations vocational training facility located in occupied East Jerusalem. It is to be found east of the Separation Barrier, in immediate proximity to the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
• Established in 1952 as the first UNRWA training centre, the KTC provides young Palestine Refugees from the West Bank with technical and vocational training opportunities. Around 340 young people are trained at the KTC each year. Registration for the new school year starting on 1 September is under way.
• The KTC offers a wide range of courses that provide young Palestine Refugees – many of whom are from poor and vulnerable families – with the skills and the knowledge they need to enter the workforce and improve their livelihoods for themselves and their families. It offers 16 specialisations, including electromechanics, car mechatronics, carpentry, masonry, telecommunications, and interior design. Moreover, 90 per cent of KTC graduates find a job after they graduate.
• The size of the compound is 80 dunams – about eight hectares – with training workshops, classrooms, dormitories, and administrative buildings. The assets on the compound are worth more than US$ 5 million. UNRWA and donors have invested considerable funding in the renovation of the premises over the past years.
• UNRWA works closely with local communities on the delivery of education, health, social protection, and environmental health services in the area. UNRWA regularly holds activities and provides services for the local community on the KTC premises. In the adjacent refugee camp of Kalandia, UNRWA operates four schools for 1,600 students and a health centre.
• The land of the KTC was provided to UNRWA by the Government of Jordan through an agreement concluded on 16 October 1952, for the purpose of providing technical and vocational training for Palestine Refugees. This agreement remains in force today.
• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency – UNRWA – is a United Nations agency and as such all its facilities, like the KTC, are protected by the privileges and immunities of the United Nations under international law. The premises are inviolable and the KTC is immune from any form of legal process or interference, in accordance with the terms of the Convention of Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations to which the State of Israel is a signatory.
• Since the beginning of 2026, there have been six unauthorised entries by Israeli authorities to the KTC. Furthermore, over the past four weeks at least ten fires have broken out on the premises resulting from tear gas grenades fired by Israeli forces.
• UNRWA has become aware of a plan reportedly prepared by the Jerusalem Municipality in April 2026 concerning the KTC. The plan appears to envisage the allocation of the land currently occupied by the KTC for the development of educational, community, welfare, and medical facilities, as well as a transportation axis. Its implementation would reportedly require the demolition of most of the existing KTC facilities.
• Should the Israeli authorities proceed with the implementation of this plan, such action would raise serious concerns regarding Israel’s obligations under international law, including its obligations as a Member State of the United Nations.

UNRWA calls upon the State of Israel to honour its obligations as a Member State of the United Nations and to continue to provide all necessary assistance to UNRWA in the discharge of its activities and operations in the OPT, including at the Kalandia Training Centre.

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