Remember how Israel’s claims that staff at UNRWA – Gaza’s main humanitarian agency – were involved in 7th October attacks drove the ICJ ruling from the headlines, and led to Western countries cancelling funds?

Those claims are falling apart. Journalists who’ve seen Israel’s dossier say there’s “no evidence” to back them up. This is a scandal of monumental proportions.

In a critical examination, David Hearst, Editor-in-chief of Middle East Eye, addresses the intricate web of geopolitical manoeuvres threatening the existence of UNRWA.

With piercing insight, Hearst reveals how Western acquiescence is playing into Israel’s strategic plans, potentially leading to the dismantling of UNRWA. This move could erase the recognition of up to five million Palestinians as refugees, fundamentally altering the landscape of Palestinian rights and aid.

Hearst’s analysis navigates the complex interplay of international politics, humanitarian aid, and the relentless pursuit of political agendas, urging the global community to recognise and counteract these covert operations before it’s too late.

Full article: https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-war-why-west-falling-israel-plan-destroy-unrwa

Excerpt:
Right of return

So let us get to the real reason why Israel is trying to “collapse” Unrwa.

This has nothing to do with Hamas and little to do with the current war in Gaza. For this we have to go back in time to the UN resolutions in 1947, Israel’s creation as a state in 1948 and its admission as a state in the UN.

The right of return of Palestinian refugees was first formulated by the UN Mediator for Palestine Folke Bernadotte, who pushed for it during a truce arranged in June 1948.

“It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees who have been rooted in the land for centuries,” he wrote in his first general report to the secretary general in 1948.

Bernadotte, a Swede who saved thousands of Jews from going to the concentration camps, was assassinated by a Jewish underground group under the leadership of future Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir. But his right of return was incorporated into UN Resolution 194.

This was made a condition of Israel’s admission to the UN in 1949. Israel’s representative at the UN, Abba Eban, was asked if Israel would honour its obligations under resolution 194. Eban replied: “I can give unqualified affirmative answer to the second question as to whether we will cooperate with the organs of the United Nations with all the means at our disposal in the fulfilment of the resolution concerning refugees.”

Unrwa was established in 1949 to provide education, healthcare and social services to the 700,000 refugees created by Israel.