Future looks dire for UN Palestinian refugee agency, says UNRWA chief
'I have been very clear that despite all the obstacles and the pressure the agency is under, our objective is to stay and deliver until we are prevented to do so,' Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency, also known as UNRWA, said in an interview with The Associated Press during a visit to Beirut.
Israel last week formally banned UNRWA from operating on its territory. As a result, Lazzarini said, international staff have had to leave East Jerusalem because their visas expired, but in Gaza and the West Bank there has been no immediate impact on operations.
Even in East Jerusalem, he said, health care and other services provided by UNRWA 'are continuing, though not necessarily at the same scope it used to be.'
UNRWA is also likely to face increased pressure from the United States under the new Trump administration.
US President Donald Trump in recent days proposed permanently resettling the approximately 2 million Palestinians in Gaza in neighboring Arab countries and suggested the United States taking long-term control of Gaza.
Lazzarini called the proposal 'totally unrealistic,' adding, 'We are talking about forced displacement. Forced displacement is a crime, an international crime. It's ethnic cleansing.'
Trump announced Tuesday that Washington will not resume funding for UNRWA — which had already been halted since January 2024 when the Biden administration stopped it following accusations by Israel that UNRWA staffers in Gaza took part in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Israel had alleged that 19 out of UNRWA's approximately 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the attack. UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal UN investigation found evidence that they could have been involved.
While several other donor countries also suspended funding at the time, all but the US decided to resume funding.
Lazzarini called the loss of US support 'a challenge,' but said the agency is appealing to Gulf Arab countries and other donors to increase their contributions. He described his agency as the target of a 'massive disinformation campaign' with a politically motivated objective of dismantling it.
UNRWA's opponents believe the agency has prolonged the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by giving refugee status to the descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced from their homes in what is now Israel in 1948, thus maintaining for them, in theory, the right of return.
Lazzarini said those who think that UNRWA can simply be dissolved and its responsibilities handed over to other institutions are mistaken.
UNRWA provides aid and services — including health and education — to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, it has been the main lifeline for a population reliant on humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Lazzarini said that while replaceable by a functioning public institution, UNRWA provides essential public services that no other UN agency offers on such a scale. It has served as a 'substitute in the absence of the state for the Palestinian refugees,' he said. He argued that the only way to end the agency's mandate is as part of a political process resulting in a Palestinian state alongside Israel, so that 'at the end of this process, the agency can hand over its services to an empowered Palestinian institution.'
The alternative, he said, is to 'let the agency implode and abruptly end its activities, which would mean additional suffering for one of the most destitute populations in the region.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
44 minutes ago
- Saudi Gazette
European leaders hope to sway Trump on Ukraine during virtual meeting
BRUSSELS — European leaders will on Wednesday use a virtual meeting with Donald Trump to try to ensure the US president truly understands what is at stake for the continent before he meets Vladimir Putin later this week, but experts are doubtful they will succeed. Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, will join a meeting convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the early afternoon (central European time) that will also include the leaders of Finland, France, Italy, Poland, the UK, the NATO Secretary-General and the chiefs of the European Commission and Council. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also take part from Berlin where he will meet with Merz. The German Chancellor, France's Emmanuel Macron and British premier Keir Starmer will then chair a meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing, scheduled to start at around 16:30 CET, according to media reports. "We welcome the efforts of President Trump to reach peace for Ukraine, a peace that is just and lasting and respects sovereignty and territorial integrity. And in this sense, we are working with Ukraine to make sure that this is kept in mind in the meeting on Friday," a spokesperson for the European Commission told reporters on Tuesday. "What we're doing now is reiterating our views on what a just and lasting peace for Ukraine should be and that any decision on Ukraine can be taken with Ukraine at the table," Arianna Podestà added. Zelensky is not expected to attend the summit to be held in Alaska on 15 August between the US and Russian presidents. Trump told reporters on Monday that "out of respect I'll call him first" after the talks wrap up. The announcement last week that a summit would be held has led to a flurry of diplomatic contact in Europe over fears Ukraine and the wider continent's interests will be trampled on in a bid for a quick deal. EU leaders - bar Hungary - reiterated in a joint statement on Tuesday that no deal can be made without Ukraine at the table. They also wrote that "international borders must not be changed by force", thereby rejecting Putin's ceasefire proposal to trade the Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk. "Unable to bring much to the negotiations, European leaders have been relegated to the margins with the EU seen by Trump and Putin as largely irrelevant," Dr Neil Melvin, Director of International Security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told Euronews. "European leaders are able to inform Trump of their ideas, and the US will brief them on the summit outcomes, but Europe is in the position that the Ukraine conflict outcomes are being negotiated over its head and the continent's leadership is essentially an observer," he added. The call with Trump and Vance is a last-ditch attempt before the summit to get that point across before the Arctic meet-up. One of the central issues for Europeans, Ian Bond told Euronews, is that Trump appears to be treating a possible peace deal in Ukraine "like a real estate transaction". "He does not understand that some of the territory in the east of Ukraine that Putin covets would be vital to Ukraine's defence when (and it is 'when' not 'if') Russia resumes its aggression and tries to take more Ukrainian territory," the deputy director of the Centre for European Reform (CER) added. Additionally, recent comments by Trump "showed that he still blames Zelensky for the war, even though Russia was the aggressor." Vance's participation is also "significant", Majda Ruge, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) told Euronews, "because his position is further away from the one Europeans are hoping to get President Trump to agree to". The US vice-president told Fox News on Sunday that the US is "done with the funding of the Ukraine war business. We want to bring about a peaceful settlement to this thing". He also said that any deal was "not going to make anybody super happy" and called on Europe "to step up and take a bigger role in this thing, and if you care so much about this conflict you should be willing to play a more direct and a more substantial way in funding this war yourself". The EU and its member states are the biggest contributors to Ukraine's defence through their financial, humanitarian and military assistance to the war-torn country since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in late February 2022. "The US Vice-President is keen to improve US relations with Russia and sees a need for compromise with Russian President Putin. He is therefore more likely to push for a position that involves greater concessions from Ukraine than what President Zelensky or the European leaders would like to see," Ruge added. The European leaders present in the meeting with Trump will then brief their counterparts involved in the so-called coalition of the willing. The group, led by France and the UK, was formed back in March following the initial thawing of relations between Washington and Moscow to discuss the security guarantees Europe could offer in the event of a peace deal. This will be their seventh meeting. They have so far agreed to the creation of a 'Multinational Force Ukraine' following reconnaissance visits to Ukraine by military chiefs and to "bolster Ukraine's ability to return to peace and stability", and to the establishment of a headquarters in Paris. "So far, the coalition of the willing has not been particularly willing to act. Its focus has been on preparing to support a peace settlement that was never likely as long as Putin's war aims were unchanged," Bond opined. "But what Ukraine needs at present is a coalition willing to help it before the cessation of hostilities – to put enough pressure on Russian forces that Putin is incentivised to stop fighting and make concessions. There is no sign of such a coalition at present," he added. The grouping itself, Dr Melvin said, "is a sign that the main institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community are now unable to deliver the political and security solutions that Europe needs" due to the fact that the EU and NATO run primarily on consensus. Whether Europe's efforts to rally Trump to their cause are fruitful will likely only be observed in Alaska on Friday. Their exchange will have been successful if Trump "stands up to Putin in Alaska, strengthens Zelensky's position militarily, and joins the Europeans in increasing sanctions pressure on Russia," Bond said, cautioning however that "it seems unlikely that the meeting will achieve any of those outcomes" given recent comments from US officials. "Maybe the best we can hope for is that Putin over-reaches so that even Trump finds it impossible to accept his proposals," he added. — Euronews
Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Saudi Gazette
Israel's Netanyahu has ‘lost the plot,' New Zealand leader Luxon says
AUCKLAND — New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Wednesday that his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu has 'lost the plot' and that Israel's planned occupation of Gaza City is 'utterly unacceptable.' Luxon's comments come as his conservative coalition government weighs whether to join other members of the Five-Eyes security alliance, Australia, Britain and Canada, in moving to recognize a Palestinian state; and as international condemnation and anger builds over Israel's recent decision to expand its war to take control of Gaza City, the throttling of aid and mass starvation in the enclave. Luxon, who leads the right-leaning National Party, said Netanyahu is 'not listening' to the international community's demands for 'unfettered' humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza. 'I think Netanyahu has gone too far. I think he has lost the plot. And I think what we are seeing overnight with the attack on Gaza City is utterly, utterly unacceptable,' Luxon said, in some of his strongest comments against Israel's actions in Gaza to date. Netanhayu's office has not yet responded to Luxon's comment. Israel has continued its intense aerial attacks on Gaza this week and Netanyahu's planned military takeover of Gaza City, expected to force up to a million people to leave the city, has been widely condemned. 'We have said a forcible displacement of people and an annexation of Gaza would be a breach of international law,' said Luxon. Chaotic scenes continue to emerge from Gaza, with violence and starvation deepening amid Israel's tight control of aid to the territory. At least 227 people – including 103 children – have died from malnutrition since the beginning of the war, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Foreign ministers from dozens of countries on Tuesday jointly said that suffering has reached 'unimaginable levels' and 'famine is unfolding before our eyes' as they demand that Israel allow more aid into Gaza and permit humanitarian organizations to operate there. Luxon is not the only western leader to openly criticize Israel's Prime Minister in recent days. On Tuesday, Australia's leader Anthony Albanese said he had spoken to Netanyahu but found him to be 'in denial' about the human cost of the war in Gaza. 'He (Netanyahu) again reiterated to me what he has said publicly as well, which is to be in denial about the consequences that are occurring for innocent people,' Albanese told Australia's public broadcaster ABC. Earlier this week, Australia announced it would move to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United National General Assembly meeting in September, leaving New Zealand as the only member of the Five Eyes security alliance, except the United States, not to pledge to do so. French President Emmanuel Macron has also said France will recognize a Palestinian state in an announcement to the United Nations General Assembly in September. 'The urgent need today is to end the war in Gaza and to rescue the civilian population,' said Macron in a July statement, reiterating calls for an immediate ceasefire, access to humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza, the release of all hostages and the demilitarization of Hamas. Washington has found itself increasingly at odds with key western allies over Israel and how the war in Gaza is being conducted. Both Israel and the US have condemned moves to recognize a Palestinian state. Luxon announced Monday that New Zealand would consider its position on recognizing a Palestinian state over the next month, prompting fierce criticism at home for what is considered by some to be a lack of action on Israel. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who went on to lead the United Nation's Development Program after exiting domestic politics, lambasted Luxon's coalition government on Tuesday for not moving quickly enough. 'We now really seem to stand for nothing except you know, somehow wanting to save our own skin in a tariff war,' she told New Zealand's public broadcaster RNZ on Tuesday. 'I think it's really quite a humiliating position for New Zealand to be in.' On Wednesday, Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick was kicked out of Parliament for refusing to apologize for comments she made suggesting coalition lawmakers grow a spine and support a bill to sanction Israel. 'If we find six of 68 government MPs (members of Parliament) with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history,' said Swarbrick Tuesday. — CNN
Saudi Gazette
2 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
US officials race to prepare for historic Trump-Putin summit
WASHINGTON — American officials scrambling this weekend to identify and lock down a venue for Friday's summit between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart quickly discovered a major snag: summertime is peak tourist season in Alaska, and options both available and equipped to host the two world leaders were severely limited. When word reached certain prominent Alaskans that Trump and Putin were coming, a few began reaching out to the president's allies with a proposition: could their home be an option? It's unclear if those offers ever reached White House officials, who were calling sites in Juneau, the state capital, along with Anchorage and Fairbanks. Organizers of the summit soon came to believe the only city in the massive state with viable options for the summit would be Anchorage. And only Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, on the northern edge of the city, would meet the security requirements for the historic meeting, though the White House had hoped to avoid the optics of hosting the Russian leader and his entourage on a US military installation. That is where the two men will meet Friday, two White House officials said. The struggle underscored the rush now underway to nail down the details of Friday's meeting, the first time the top US and Russian leaders have met in more than four years. The summit is still largely a work in progress as US and Russian officials make haste to prepare for the high-profile encounter. The two countries' top diplomats — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — spoke Tuesday to discuss 'certain aspects of preparation,' according to Russia's foreign ministry. Usually, a high-stakes summit with a US adversary would be preceded by extensive negotiations over the agenda and outcomes. But Trump himself has said he is approaching the meeting as a 'feel-out' session, with few advance expectations for how it will proceed. The White House on Tuesday termed it a 'listening session.' 'The president feels like, 'look, I've got to look at this guy across the table. I need to see him face to face. I need to hear him one-on-one. I need to make an assessment by looking at him,'' Rubio said in a morning radio interview Tuesday with Sid Rosenberg, offering one explanation for why Trump's five known phone calls with Putin this year wouldn't suffice in determining the Russian leader's intentions. Trump's administration and the Kremlin landed on Alaska as the site for the summit after a lengthy behind-the-scenes back-and-forth, according to people familiar with the matter. There were few places that would work for the sit-down, the people said, particularly given a war crimes warrant issued for Putin's arrest by the International Criminal Court in 2023. With that fact looming, Russia balked at a European destination — even in a city like Vienna or Geneva, where US and Russian leaders have met dating back to the Cold War. While Putin himself raised the United Arab Emirates as an 'entirely suitable' location, many inside the White House hoped to avoid another lengthy trek to the Middle East after Trump's visit in May. In the end, sources said, it came down to Hungary — whose Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is close to both Trump and Putin — and the United States as possible hosts, according to two US officials. American officials were pleased and somewhat surprised when the Russian president agreed to a meeting on US soil — on land that once was part of the Russian empire, no less. 'I thought it was very respectful that the president of Russia is coming to our country as opposed to us going to his country or even a third-party place,' Trump said this week, as his team was rushing to finalize details of the summit. Others were not so taken. 'The only better place for Putin than Alaska would be if the summit were being held in Moscow,' said Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton, who fell out with Trump during his first term. 'So, the initial setup, I think, is a great victory for Putin.' The last time an American president met with Putin — President Joe Biden's 2021 summit in Geneva — the date and venue were announced three weeks ahead of time. But the planning between Russian and American officials started months before that. Biden, on a week-long swing through Europe, spent the days leading up to the sit-down in intensive preparation with top advisers, blocking out time in the mornings to parse potential directions the conversation could take and anticipate some of Putin's moves. He consulted other leaders, including the German chancellor, for pointers on how to approach the notoriously wily Russian leader. By the time the summit arrived, aides had planned the day down to the most minute detail, including what order the leaders would arrive, how long each session would last and what type of flower would sit on the table (it was white roses). American officials even ensured there were bottles of orange Gatorade — labeled 'POTUS' — inside a refrigerator at the 18th-century villa where the meeting took place. During Trump's first term, he and Putin sat one-on-one in Helsinki, Finland, during a summit in 2018 that ended with a remarkable moment when Trump sided with Putin over US intelligence agencies on the question of Russian election interference. Trump also met Putin alone in 2017, during their first encounter at the G20 summit in Hamburg. Mystery over meeting's origins While American and Russian officials have been in extensive conversations to prepare for the sit-down since it was agreed to last week, the encounter that prompted the event remains something of a mystery. Trump's foreign envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow last Wednesday for a meeting with Putin that resulted in the decision to meet, though what exactly Putin said in the meeting is still largely unknown. European officials spent much of the last week trying to ascertain the parameters of a peace deal that Putin offered up, but some said they were frustrated by the lack of clarity offered by Witkoff, a real estate developer and longtime friend of Trump's. Trump plans to hear from European leaders and Ukraine in a virtual meeting on Wednesday, arranged by the Germans so the president can get their perspective ahead of the Friday meeting. And he has promised to get on the phone with them, along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, immediately after the summit concludes. But Zelensky isn't expected to be in Alaska for the summit, so any potential trilateral meeting is off the table for now. Instead, Trump will spend at least part of the summit meeting with Putin one-on-one, the White House said Tuesday, allowing time for the two men to carry out a discussion unheard by anyone else aside from their translators. 'That's part of the plan,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said when asked whether the two presidents would meet as a pair. 'As for the other mechanics and logistics, I will let our team speak to that when they're ironed out.' It's not atypical for leaders to meet alone with their counterparts, but Trump and Putin's relationship has been the subject of intense scrutiny. And during Trump's first term, even senior officials said they sometimes were left in the dark about what was discussed when aides were left out. In Trump's previous two meetings with Putin, both encounters included translators, but not high-ranking aides. After the Germany meeting, Trump reportedly asked his translator for his notes. For his part, Putin has spent the days ahead of Friday's meeting placing phone calls to his remaining global allies — including some who have staged their own high-profile summits with Trump. That included North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, the Kremlin said Tuesday, who met three times with Trump during his first term, but still hasn't abandoned his nuclear weapons. — CNN
