Qalandia Institute and UNRWA facilities north of Jerusalem are threatened with closure due to Israeli incitement (Al Jazeera)
The intensity of Israeli incitement against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and its headquarters in occupied Jerusalem has recently escalated.
Days after the letter written by Aryeh King, deputy mayor of the occupation, to Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, requesting that the international agency evacuate from its headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem, King demanded the evacuation of the Qalandiya Training College, north of the city, or what was historically known as the “Vocational Training Center” of UNRWA. , claiming that it seized real estate in Jerusalem without a permit.
King demands the evacuation of the center, which he says was built on a land area of 85 dunums (one thousand square meters), and that this land was purchased by Jews at the beginning of the 20th century and donated to a fund designated for the development of Jewish settlement in Jerusalem, according to his claim.
Dozens of settlers demonstrated yesterday evening, Monday, to demand the closure of UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem (Al Jazeera)
Refugee address
On January 14, UNRWA was required to pay a retroactive debt worth 17 million shekels, claiming that buildings were constructed and used without a permit or approval from the so-called “Israel Lands Authority.”
On Monday evening, dozens of settlers participated in a demonstration called by King in front of the agency’s headquarters to demand its closure. They chanted against it and raised slogans accusing it of “terrorism” and ties with the Hamas movement.
An informed source at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) told Al Jazeera Net that the Qalandiya Training College was the first college established by the agency in Palestine, and that was in 1953 on an area of 88 dunums.
The college is located north of occupied Jerusalem, opposite the Qalandia refugee camp, which was isolated from the city by the wall. Its current student population is estimated at 270 students whose education extends from one to two years.
The question now, in light of the Israeli persecution, is: What will the situation be with the start of registration for the new academic year in the summer of 2024?
Qalandiya Training College was the first college established by UNRWA in Palestine in 1953 on an area of 88 dunums (Al Jazeera)
Demolished in college
The college offers a diverse vocational training program that includes 14 specializations, in addition to several services for those enrolled in the college, such as boarding housing for students from outside Ramallah (the city closest to the college, north of Jerusalem), and a nurse and resident guide to educate and guide students.
The college includes a vocational guidance and counseling department to assist students in the fields of training and involvement in the labor market, and the number of its annual graduates ranges between 250 and 300 graduates in all specializations.
The center is one of eight technical and vocational training centers affiliated with UNRWA, which works to arm young Palestine refugees with the skills and experience appropriate for labor markets in the Middle East, according to the agency’s explanation.
The occupation municipality in Jerusalem claimed about a year ago that there were official documents proving that UNRWA had rented the land, and said that it needed to demolish part of the building to expand the road due to the density of construction in the area.
The agency ignored and rejected this claim, and called on the Palestinians to register their children in college on a regular basis, according to what the informed source in UNRWA told Al Jazeera Net.
Israeli attempts to seize the lands of the UNRWA Qalandiya Training College (Al Jazeera)
Different campaign
But the winds are still blowing in a way that the International Agency’s ships do not desire, which are facing attempts to liquidate it and end its existence.
In his comment on this, the director of the Badil Resource Center for Citizenship and Refugee Rights, Nidal Al-Azza, told Al Jazeera Net that the Israeli campaigns targeting UNRWA are not new, but this time they are linked to a political project that has become clearer.
Al-Azza explained, "Previous campaigns targeted UNRWA on the basis that if its work was ended, the refugee file would be ended, so the talk at that time was about its incompetence, corruption, or an attempt to transfer responsibilities to the host countries or other more transparent international institutions."
But now - Al-Azza says - “Israel is accusing the agency and some of its employees of terrorism in order to market the authority that is to be established in Gaza the day after the war.”
The director of the "Badil" Center pointed out that in previous wars, international institutions were always resorted to, mainly UNRWA, to supervise the reconstruction projects of the Gaza Strip after the war, and the agency was part of the planning for reconstruction, receiving funds, distributing them, and supervising that.
But now it has become clear - according to Al-Azza - that what is meant is to exclude UNRWA, and to push people to deal with the authority that is to be established in Gaza, even if it is a military government, because in the end they will need shelter, health, and education and will be forced to deal with the new authority.
Strategic impact
It is not possible to talk about attempts to liquidate the refugee relief agency without going back to late 2017, when then-US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel and his decision to move his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied capital, according to Nidal Al-Azza.
He said that international responsibility with regard to East Jerusalem had to be eliminated at that time, and the Israeli media was an essential partner with Israeli politicians and the Trump administration in marketing the idea of recognizing Jerusalem in its two parts as “a unified capital of Israel.”
This was accompanied by a campaign against UNRWA, during which Knesset members and ministers demanded the closure of its headquarters in Jerusalem, claiming that it should not have international institutions dealing with the city as part of occupied Palestinian territories.
When asked: What does it mean for Jerusalemites to wake up one day without the presence of UNRWA and its educational and health institutions? Al-Azza answered that in addition to the direct humanitarian impact on people through closing institutions that provide services directly to them, there is a strategic political impact, which is removing international responsibility from the Palestinian population inside Jerusalem and leaving them completely under Israeli sovereignty.
The agency provides its services to 110,000 Palestinian refugees in Jerusalem, whether those who live in the Shuafat and Qalandia camps located within the municipal borders or those who live in the city’s various neighborhoods and depend on the health and educational services provided by the agency since 1950 within the mandate granted to it by the United Nations General Assembly.
Source: Al Jazeera