WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (KUNA) -- UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini warned Friday that dismantling the UN Palestinian refugee agency risks undermine Gaza ceasefire agreement and derail Gaza recovery.
"Dismantling UNRWA now, outside a political process, will undermine the ceasefire agreement and sabotage Gaza's recovery and political transition," the UN official said in a press briefing after a special UN Security Council on Gaza. "In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority has stated clearly that it does not have the financial resources or capacity to compensate for the loss of UNRWA's services." Lazzarini pointed out that he had informed the UNSC that "a chaotic dismantling of UNRWA will irreversibly harm the lives and future of Palestinians".
"It will obliterate their trust in the international community and any solution it attempts to facilitate," he cautioned.
He went on to say that "I warned that in less than two weeks, the Knesset legislation to end UNRWA's operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories will enter into force. Full implementation will be catastrophic." "In Gaza, it will massively weaken the international humanitarian response. This will immeasurably worsen already catastrophic living conditions." The UN official debunked the Israeli claims that UNRWA's services can be transferred to other entities.
"In fact, the Agency's mandate and capacity to provide public-like services to an entire population are unique. UNRWA's ability to directly provide education and primary healthcare far exceeds that of any other entity," he argued, affirming that "These services can only be transferred to a functioning State." He, moreover, noted that UNRWA's personnel and services are also tightly woven into the social fabric of Gaza.
"The disintegration of the Agency will intensify the breakdown of social order," he warned.
Lazzarini reminded the UNSC of the fierce, the Israeli government-led global disinformation campaign against the Agency.
"Intense diplomatic lobbying by the Government of Israel and affiliates has targeted parliaments and governments in top donor countries. Billboards and ads accusing UNRWA of terrorism recently appeared in several cities, including New York.They were paid for by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel," he indicated.
"Google ad campaigns re-direct people seeking information about the Agency to disinformation websites," he said, adding that this propaganda endangers UN staff in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza - where 269 colleagues have already been killed.
"It creates a permissive environment for the harassment of our representatives in Europe and the US." He told the UNSC members that this year, the Israeli Foreign Ministry received a funding boost of 150 million dollars for such propaganda - approximately a sixth of UNRWA's annual operating budget.
On the ceasefire deal, the UN official welcomed it and called on all parties to ensure the deal is fully implemented.
He underlined the need for rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access to respond to the tremendous suffering in Gaza.
"UNRWA is ready to support the international response by scaling up aid delivery," he said.
"We are ready to support the recovery of Gaza by resuming education and continuing to provide primary healthcare." He stressed that a ceasefire in Gaza must be followed by a political transition that includes an orderly conclusion of UNRWA's mandate and the handover of its public-like services to empowered Palestinian institutions.
"This is the path now pursued by the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, led by Saudi Arabia, the EU and the League of Arab States," the UN official pointed out.
Lazzarini recalled that UNRWA is the largest provider of primary healthcare in Gaza, where it still conducts approximately 17,000 medical consultations per day.
"We are the second-largest healthcare provider in the West Bank. Our health services and expertise are essential for building a strong national health system," he said.
He added that UNRWA also has a pivotal role to play in education.
"In Gaza today, 650,000 girls and boys are living in the rubble. Absent a full-fledged State, only UNRWA has the capacity to bring them back to learning," he noted.
"If we fail to resume education in Gaza, and to preserve it in the occupied West Bank, we will sacrifice an entire generation of Palestinian children. This will have profound consequences for the future of the Palestinian people, and a Palestinian State." The UNRWA chief stressed that it is critical that the efforts to dismantle UNRWA are not compounded by the Agency's financial instability.
"This is now a major risk as some key donors have decided to end or reduce their voluntary contributions to the Agency.
"I appealed for an urgent increase in financial support to UNRWA, the early disbursement of allocated funds, and a review of any funding currently on hold," the UN official implored. (end) amm.ibi