Gaza: SPD opposes calls for UNRWA to be disbanded

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A UNRWA truck at the Egyptian border station of Rafa on the way to the Gaza Strip: funds until the end of February

Photo: Amr Abdallah Dalsh / REUTERS

The SPD politician Frank Schwabe warns against dissolving the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). The Federal Government Commissioner for Freedom of Religion and Belief fears that this will lead “in a very short space of time to an unmistakable humanitarian and political catastrophe.” After Israeli intelligence accused twelve UNRWA employees of being involved in the Hamas terrorist attack in October, several countries temporarily suspended their payments, including Germany.

Last Sunday, at its European party conference in Berlin, the FDP demanded that the UN should allow the aid organization to be "absorbed" into "tried and tested structures" such as the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the UN development program UNDP and the World Food Program WFP. Recent incidents have shown that “internal reforms are not enough.” Until UNRWA is transferred to other UN structures, “the resumption of payments is only possible in close coordination with Israel and the USA,” was the FDP decision.

The federal government made up of the FDP, SPD and Greens recently called on the UN to quickly investigate the allegations against the UNRWA employees. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also made a similar statement in the Bundestag this week, but at the same time called for a differentiated view. In addition to the current allegations against individual employees, there is “obviously a need for reform” at UNRWA. On the other hand, there is currently a "terrible war situation" in the Gaza Strip and "the UNRWA structures are the only ones that can distribute aid there," said the Green politician.

The SPD member of the Bundestag Schwabe argues similarly. Those responsible must be held “accountable by all means,” he told SPIEGEL. »There is no alternative to UNRWA now. This can only happen when the situation in Gaza is manageable again.

But even then it remains a challenge to have to work with thousands of local employees in a situation that comes from an environment that can be found there. “We need a political perspective in which Hamas can be isolated from a future process,” says Schwabe. Then it would be easier to make UN structures more resistant to Hamas' influence.

In 2023, UNRWA received around 206 million euros from Germany

»But it cannot be ruled out in any UN organization that local staff act against all the rules. You can prevent and punish, establish a certain culture." But "I don't have a patent solution, nobody does," said the SPD member of the Bundestag.

According to the federal government, Germany paid around 206 million euros to the aid organization in 2023, of which 130 million came from the Federal Foreign Office budget. In the government draft, 18 million euros are planned for the UNRWA “core budget” this year, FDP budget expert Otto Fricke told SPIEGEL.

Additional funds are theoretically possible in 2024 through separate payments from the Foreign Office to UNRWA, for example for the purchase of food, or for projects from the budget of the Ministry of Development. The Federal Foreign Office can transfer funds to UNRWA from large collective items in the budget, such as those for humanitarian aid, in what is known as budget execution, without these having to go through the Bundestag's budget committee in advance.

It is still unclear when new funds could be released. There are currently no more payments due, as the funds earmarked for the refugee aid organization in the Federal Foreign Office's budget for 2023 have been completely drained.

According to its own information, UNRWA is the largest employer in the Gaza Strip with around 13,000 employees. It operates, among other things, clinics, schools and aid programs, and procures and distributes food. On Thursday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, together with Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, appealed to donor countries in a joint statement to "reconsider their decision." If funding continues to be suspended, "we will most likely be forced to stop our work not only in the Gaza Strip but in the entire region by the end of February," Lazzarini said.

An end to UNRWA aid also appears to be controversial within part of the Israeli government. The Times of Israel newspaper this week quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that if UNRWA stopped working on the ground, "it could cause a humanitarian catastrophe that would force Israel to halt its fight against Hamas." This, the official was quoted as saying, "would not be in the interest of Israel and also not in the interest of Israel's allies."

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