A Palestinian rejects the framework agreement between Washington and UNRWA... and the UN agency defends: “He saved us from collapse”

GAZA

- Um Muhammad al-Arini and her family of 13 depend on relief aid they receive from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

This family has no other source of life than this aid, which it receives once every 3 months, and UNRWA distributes it to families classified as poor and poorest in the Gaza Strip, which is mired in crises due to the long years of siege.

Umm Muhammad, a refugee from the town of "Zarnuqa" inside occupied Palestine in 1948, told Al Jazeera Net that she feared the interruption of this aid, in light of "American conditions" by depriving the families of the martyrs, prisoners and wounded of UNRWA aid.

This citizen lost her son Nasser, shot by the occupation forces, 3 years ago, during her participation in peaceful activities within the "Marchs of Return and Breaking the Siege".

Last July, UNRWA and the United States signed a framework agreement in which Washington resumed financial support for the UN agency, after it had stopped since 2018, by decision of former President Donald Trump.

The text of the agreement was not officially published, but according to leaks from the Executive Office for Palestinian Refugees in the West Bank, its most serious clause is to “stop aiding UNRWA for every refugee who belongs to the Palestine Liberation Army or any gang organization and who participates in a terrorist act,” in reference to Palestinian activists who participate in acts of terrorism. or anti-occupation activities.

The agreement also stipulated monitoring the Palestinian curriculum, and deleting and deleting any content deemed hostile by Washington and Tel Aviv, in addition to monitoring all UNRWA institutions.

The agreement also redefines the status of a refugee as a Palestinian who was born before 1948, and they do not exceed 40,000, and not according to UNRWA's current classification, whose records include 5 million and 700 thousand refugees, which the Palestinians consider a step on the path to "finally liquidating the refugee issue."

Muhammad, the eldest son of this 50-year-old refugee, told Al Jazeera Net that UNRWA's aid barely meets their basic needs, but it is the main source of life, and he considered cutting off this aid as "a death sentence for an entire family."

Despite his illness, Muhammad, 37, works on a donkey cart (a cart) to earn no more than 15 shekels (about $4) in order to provide the monthly rent for the house in which he lives with his extended family.

UNRWA data says that 70% of the two million Palestinians living in Gaza are refugees, who depend on its humanitarian aid, after years of siege pushed a large percentage of the population below the poverty line.

UNRWA was established as a United Nations agency by a resolution of the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to the approximately 5.7 million Palestine refugees currently registered with it in its five areas of operation: the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Its services include education, health care, relief and social services, infrastructure and camp improvement, protection and microfinance.

UNRWA faces sharp criticism and accusations of aligning with US-Israeli pressure to liquidate the refugee issue (Al-Jazeera)

political blackmail

The fifty-year-old refugee, Abdul Hadi Muslim, 53, described the framework agreement between Washington and UNRWA as "not innocent and blackmailing the UN agency politically."

The position of Muslim, who is active in popular activities in support of refugees, is consistent with the positions rejecting the agreement, expressed by the Department of Refugee Affairs of the Liberation Organization, the Palestinian forces, and the popular committees representing refugees.

And Muslim - who comes from a refugee family who abandoned her hometown of "Al-Batani Al-Sharqi" during the catastrophe in 1948 - justified to Al-Jazeera Net this broad rejection of the agreement as it "affects the essence of the refugee issue in terms of service and politics."

He says that the agreement imposes obligations and conditions on UNRWA that allow Washington to interfere in the work of an "international body established primarily to serve the refugees until they return to their cities and towns from which they were forcibly displaced." In addition, the agreement affects the services provided to refugees, employees, and the Palestinian curriculum, under the pretext of preserving Principles of neutrality and non-incitement to violence and hatred.

A sit-in in front of the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza during protests against reducing services (Al-Jazeera)

Palestinian consensus rejects the agreement

Since the revelation of the agreement, Gaza and cities in the West Bank have witnessed activities against it, with the participation of factions and wide popularity, and the Friday prayer sermon in Gaza was devoted to talking about the dangers of the agreement, amid threats of escalation if the United Nations did not respond to the demands identified by Palestinian forces in a memorandum submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations United Antonio Guterres.

The head of the Refugee Affairs Department of the Liberation Organization, Ahmed Abu Houli, told Al Jazeera Net that the agreement in its current form is rejected, and some of its clauses should be corrected "to conform to the mandate given to UNRWA under UN Resolution 302."

He stressed that any agreement between UNRWA and donor countries must be consistent with its founding decision, and not include any "political requirements" that allow the funder to interfere in UNRWA's work and direct its policies, or make it a "security monitor" over its staff and refugees.

Abu Houli refused any prejudice to the definition of the Palestinian refugee, which would negatively affect the millions of residents outside the camps, whether at home or in the diaspora.

He also expressed his rejection of compromising the Palestinian curriculum, and said that for more than seven decades, UNRWA schools have produced more than 2.5 million refugee students, who have held important job positions in many countries of the world and contributed to serving humanity.

UNRWA is responsible under the mandate to protect refugees and provide services to them until return (Al-Jazeera)

Filter the refugee file

The Palestinian forces and refugee committees justify their rejection of the agreement, as it includes clauses that make Washington a “security watchdog” over UNRWA’s work, and hamper it with procedures and requirements that negatively affect millions of refugees, in addition to imposing restrictions on UNRWA employees that deprive them of their right to express an opinion, especially with regard to issues National.

Mahmoud Khalaf, coordinator of the Joint Committee for Refugees, whose membership includes political forces and bodies representing employees and refugees, says that Washington is seeking behind this agreement and through "financial blackmail" to "liquidate the refugee file, which is the core of the national cause and witness to the crime of the Nakba."

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, he believes that this agreement makes UNRWA a "security agent" for Washington, and forces it to submit financial and security reports to the US State Department, in exchange for resuming funding.

The agreement includes clauses that Khalaf described as dangerous, aiming to “disengage” the Palestinian refugee from his national cause, by restricting his freedom to express his opinion, as happened with employees who were dismissed from their jobs at UNRWA because of their political positions. The agreement also aims to empty the curriculum of its national content.

Khalaf stressed the rejection of this "conditional funding" and the determination of all Palestinian forces and activities to bring it down by all possible means.

frame collapse prevention

In turn, UNRWA media advisor Adnan Abu Hasna says that the agreement is in line with similar agreements that other United Nations institutions sign with the United States.

And he explains, in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, that the agreement is not new, and that UNRWA has been signing it with Washington since 2005, and that it does not affect the services provided by UNRWA to refugees.

He added, "The agreement stipulates a commitment to neutrality, human rights, and non-sowing hatred and violence, which are principles that are in line with the international system of values."

The media advisor asserts that Washington's resumption of its funding after it was suspended by the administration of the former president "saved UNRWA from collapse," as US funding constitutes 30% of the budget, at a time when the UN agency suffers from a financial deficit estimated at 120 million dollars.

The US decision to resume funding comes in light of a sharp decline in the Arab contribution to UNRWA's budget, which fell from $200 million in 2018 to only $37 million last year.

On the existence of US requirements related to the Palestinian curriculum, Abu Hasna explained that "it is not within UNRWA's authority to change the curriculum determined by the host country (the Palestinian Authority), and we are committed to teaching the Palestinian curriculum."