Afrasianet - Hayyan Nayouf - Under Netanyahu's efforts and in coordination with Israel, Washington seeks to transfer the custody of refugee affairs from UNRWA to other organizations affiliated with it and control its workflow, thus achieving its goals and those of Israel.
Last week, Israel announced that it had officially notified the United Nations of the cancellation of the agreement that has governed its relations with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) since 1967, and this announcement came after the Israeli Knesset overwhelmingly passed last October a law banning the work of UNRWA in the occupied Palestinian territories and preventing the Israeli authorities from cooperating with the agency, which provides aid and educational services to millions of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
The Israeli decision comes six months after the US Congress passed a law at the end of March banning funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for at least one year, until March 2025. The decision came at the time after an agreement between congressional leaders from both parties with the administration of US President Joe Biden as part of a broader plan for government funding after Republicans resorted to throwing this file to trade the Biden administration for it in exchange for passing the funding he requested in other files.
About UNRWA
Established in the aftermath of the 1948 Nakba by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949, UNRWA is a UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees in the Middle East, providing assistance and protection to Palestine refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories..
For nearly 75 years of its establishment, UNRWA has served four generations of Palestine refugees within its areas of operation, from 750,000 at the time of the Agency's establishment to nearly six million today. Accordingly, it can be said that UNRWA, through its services, has contributed to achieving two important achievements for the Palestinian cause and the refugee cause, as its work resulted in the adherence of Palestinian refugees to their right of return, while at the same time contributing to preventing their re-displacement. Under the pressure of want and need.
Netanyahu and Trump vs. UNRWA
The Israeli entity realized, years ago, the symbolism of UNRWA and the role it plays in favor of Palestinian refugees, and thus the danger posed by that agency to its plans for displacement and expansion, so Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been attacking the agency for years since the era of former and newly elected US President Donald Trump to the era of the current President Joe Biden, and Netanyahu gave a lot of misinformation, lies and accusations against UNRWA, accusing it of being the problem and not the solution to the Palestinian refugee issue.
Netanyahu also accused UNRWA of spreading hatred against Israel and manipulating the number of refugees, and repeatedly demanded its dismantling and abolition. Netanyahu was able to convince Trump during his previous term of his view against the agency, so the latter repeated Netanyahu's accusations against the agency, before issuing his decision in 2018 to stop US funding to UNRWA, where the US contribution constitutes nearly a third of the agency's budget of $ 1.4 billion.
The real goal of both Netanyahu and Trump at the time was to abolish the right of return for Palestinian refugees by dismantling the UNRWA agency responsible for managing their affairs, cutting off funding to deprive them of livelihoods, human development and life, and pushing them to migrate outside the region. All this was in preparation for the passage of the "deal of the century", at that time, by removing the obstacle of refugees, which constitutes one of the most important obstacles to any Israeli-American agreement or solution.
Netanyahu, Biden Administration and UNRWA
In 2021, the administration of US President Joe Biden issued a decision to refinance UNRWA, but this funding did not reach half of what Washington had previously contributed, and remained at about $ 150 million, before returning and reducing its contribution to $ 126 million, of which only $ 60 million was paid, and later issued a decision to stop funding the agency at the beginning of January 2024, as this continued until Congress passed the last funding cessation bill. Until March 2025.
The Biden administration justified its decision to stop funding the agency based on the new lies promoted by Netanyahu, in which he said that a number of the agency's employees participated in the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation on October 7, 2023, so the Biden administration adopted this narrative and used it to justify stopping funding. Many of the 15 funding countries followed, but the Biden administration did not demand the abolition of the agency and demanded an investigation into the incident, which both Washington and Tel Aviv could not provide any Evidence of it.
The real objectives of targeting and banning UNRWA
First: Transforming the Palestinian refugee issue from a political and legal issue to a humanitarian issue in preparation for the abolition of the right of return.
Second, within the framework of Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, with the support and coordination of Washington for more than a year, the Israeli-American plan aims to cut off the last lifeline of Palestinians and refugees in the Gaza Strip in order to push them to voluntary and forced migration.
Third: Washington and Tel Aviv, as part of their plan on the ground and through months-long stalled negotiations, known as the "day after the war," seek to establish a new administration to take care of matters in the Gaza Strip. Washington, in coordination with Tel Aviv, believes that drying up UNRWA's sources of funding will contribute to pressuring Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip to accept Israel's conditions by starving them and controlling their livelihood.
Fourth: Washington, in accordance with Netanyahu and in coordination with Israel, seeks to transfer the custody of refugee affairs from UNRWA to other organizations affiliated with it and control its workflow, thus achieving its goals and Israel's political goals to abolish the right of return.
Fifth: The United States and the Zionist entity believe that the integration of Israel in the region in preparation for its assumption of leadership stands without the Palestinian cause as a whole and the refugee issue in particular, therefore, according to their belief and plans, targeting UNRWA will contribute, in addition to the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, and later from the West Bank, to the permanent settlement of large numbers of them in neighboring countries or countries to which they will be displaced.
Sixth: With Trump's return to the White House, Netanyahu and his far-right allies aspire to re-annex the West Bank and Gaza Strip after Netanyahu showed clear support for Trump in the recent presidential elections that took place in the United States, and Trump had declared during his election campaign that "the area of Israel is small", as he considered that statement as support for the ambitions of the Israeli extreme right to expand and annex, and therefore the timing of the Israeli decision to ban the agency came in anticipation of Trump's return to the White House in preparation for the implementation of The expansion and annexation agreement that has become exposed between the two sides.
In conclusion, confronting the US-Israeli plan to abolish the right of return by targeting UNRWA requires countries and organizations that support the Palestinian cause to work to confront this plan by securing new sources of funding for this agency. This is what the Arab and Islamic countries must do in particular, whether individually or through resolutions issued by the competent bodies and institutions, especially the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
It also requires a move towards countries that support UNRWA's work, such as China, Russia, Asian countries and the Global South. On the political side, it is necessary to uphold the right of return and UN Security Council Resolution 194, and to confront and reject all political pressures and truncated settlements that Washington seeks to pass. With regard to the axis of resistance, it is necessary to beware of the deliberate merger by Washington and Tel Aviv between the refugee issues and UNRWA on the one hand, and the ceasefire on the other, and the separation of the two tracks in any ceasefire negotiations.