PLO calls on UNRWA Advisory Commission to stop occupation’s measures against Agency

RAMALLAH: The Palestine Liberation Organization Department of Refugee Affairs called Tuesday the Advisory Committee of the UNRWA to convene an emergency meeting before October 27, the end of the Israeli Knesset's summer recess, to discuss Israeli legislation against the UN agency. The department called for the meeting to discuss the Israeli occupation's decision to seize the land on which UNRWA's headquarters is located in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem, and turn it into a colonial outpost. The meeting is also meant to tackle the serious repercussions of these decisions on the region, and ways to take action to prevent their passage. The department, in a memorandum sent to the Chairman and members of the Advisory Committee, called for urgent action and a firm stand against Israeli legislation and laws legislated by the Israeli Knesset that aim to end UNRWA or undermine its mandate, due to its role in protecting the rights of Palestinian refugees and its international commitment to ref ugees until a political solution is found in accordance with Resolution 194. The memorandum warned that the Israeli occupation authorities' interference in UNRWA's operations poses a threat to the lives of Palestinian refugees and to its life-saving services, especially in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem. The Refugee Affairs Department explained that the Israeli Knesset is seeking to pass two bills against UNRWA, the first aims to 'stop UNRWA's activities in Israel and the areas it controls,' while the second is to 'lift its diplomatic immunity and cut off contact with it,' in a final vote before the end of October. The bills came after the Israeli Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, headed by its hardline right-wing member Yuli Edelstein, approved them on October 6. The department pointed out that this comes within the framework of the declared Israeli war against UNRWA, which it began by targeting its employees and destroying its educational, health, relief a nd shelter facilities, and preventing the UNRWA Commissioner-General from entering the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA