Attachments
(As Prepared)
DOHA
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are meeting in the shadow of the dystopian horror that is Gaza for a discussion that could not be more timely.
The rules-based international order that has been in place since the end of the Second World War is fracturing.
The Geneva Conventions, adopted 75 years ago to protect civilians and non-combatants during conflict, are increasingly challenged and at risk of becoming irrelevant.
The lack of meaningful action in defense of international law is weakening the foundations of our multilateral system.
It is fueling resentment in the Global South, where many believe that the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in international law do not apply equally.
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Nowhere is the blatant disregard for international law and the rules-based order more apparent than in Gaza.
At least 252 UNRWA personnel have been killed in 14 months.
Two-thirds of our premises have been damaged or destroyed.
Nearly 600 displaced people have been killed while sheltering in our buildings, seeking the protection of the United Nations.
Aid convoys have been struck despite coordinating movement with the Israeli Security Forces.
We have received allegations that the Israeli Security Forces and Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, have used UNRWA premises for military purposes.
I have repeatedly condemned this alleged use of our premises and will continue to call for accountability for attacks on UN personnel, premises and operations.
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In the broader occupied Palestinian territory, the operational space for advocates of human rights and international law is shrinking.
In occupied East Jerusalem, UNRWA’s headquarters was set on fire.
Local authorities are attempting to evict us from these premises to build settlements.
Failing to push back against attempts to intimidate and undermine the United Nations system has set a dangerous precedent.
Consider how Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire and scaling up humanitarian aid in Gaza are openly defied.
How the binding orders of the International Court of Justice to prevent genocide in Gaza and end an unlawful occupation are brushed off.
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Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Israeli officials have described dismantling UNRWA as a goal.
The Knesset recently adopted two laws that seek to prevent all UNRWA services in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The legislation is premised on the misguided belief that if UNRWA disappears, so will the issue of Palestine Refugees.
Dismantling UNRWA will not terminate the refugee status of Palestinians – this status exists independently of the Agency – but it will severely harm their lives and future.
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The Agency has also been subjected to a fierce, global disinformation campaign.
Intense diplomatic lobbying by the Government of Israel and affiliated groups has targeted parliaments and governments in top donor countries.
Billboards and ads accusing UNRWA of terrorism have started to appear in New York, Geneva, Rome, Stockholm and other cities.
They are paid for by the Government of Israel.
Google ad campaigns redirect those seeking information about the Agency to websites replete with lies.
This is not merely “disinformation”.
It is wartime propaganda that puts our staff in the occupied Palestinian territory in mortal danger.
It also creates a permissive environment for the harassment of UNRWA representatives in Europe and the United States.
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Implementing the Knesset legislation to end UNRWA’s services in the occupied Palestinian territory will have catastrophic consequences.
In Gaza, dismantling UNRWA will collapse the United Nations humanitarian response, which relies heavily on the Agency’s infrastructure.
The absence of UNRWA means the absence of education.
Palestinians value education highly – it is the only asset from which they have not been dispossessed.
Without a capable public administration or state, only UNRWA can deliver education to more than 660,000 girls and boys in Gaza.
Are we willing to let these children be denied the right to education?
To sacrifice an entire generation, and sow the seeds for marginalization and extremism?
It is also horrifying that people enduring a devastating war might be left without basic healthcare.
Before the war, UNRWA addressed 70 to 80 percent of primary healthcare needs in Gaza.
We still provide 16,000 medical consultations every day.
In the West Bank, UNRWA’s collapse would deprive at least 50,000 children of education, and half a million Palestine Refugees of primary healthcare.
The Agency is the second largest employer after the Palestinian Authority – its collapse will further fuel the current instability.
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Let me state the obvious – UNRWA is not a party to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
It is a United Nations agency mandated by the General Assembly to provide essential services to Palestine Refugees pending a political solution.
Today, however, the Agency has become a soft target for warring parties that view its presence and activities as a threat.
Israel accuses UNRWA of being infiltrated by Hamas.
Meanwhile, Hamas has repeatedly and publicly accused UNRWA of colluding with the Israeli occupation.
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Humanitarian work can only succeed when shielded by a robust international legal and political framework.
Without this, humanitarians – however selfless and courageous – cannot stay and deliver.
The tools of humanitarian diplomacy – negotiation, mediation and enforcing international law and humanitarian principles – are indispensable for enabling humanitarian work.
Humanitarian diplomacy must also be complemented by efforts to counter polarizing narratives and dehumanizing rhetoric.
Humanitarian diplomacy and humanitarian assistance are mutually reinforcing – when humanitarians can operate safely and independently, we can foster the conditions for diplomacy and political processes to succeed.
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The international community has charted a broadly agreed path towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
The key components are enshrined in multiple UN resolutions and in UNRWA’s mandate:
- Hostilities in Gaza must cease.
- Hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally.
- Humanitarian assistance must be facilitated safely, effectively, and at scale.
- Illegal settlement activity across the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, must cease.
- The Israel-Palestine conflict must be settled peacefully through a two-state solution; and
- UNRWA must assist Palestine Refugees until a just and lasting solution to their plight is at hand.
Today, every step of this path to peace is being challenged.
The attempt by one Member State to shift the long-established parameters for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict has been met with little to no effective resistance.
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The stakes in the occupied Palestinian territory are extraordinarily high.
Gaza is decimated and human development for two million Palestinians has been set back by seven decades.
A million children are in crisis – orphaned, injured, malnourished and deprived of any learning.
The violence in the West Bank is vicious and unprecedented, with the stage being set for further annexation.
What is at stake is not only the future of Palestinians or UNRWA.
It is the legitimacy of our entire multilateral system and the rules-based international order that has been in place since the Second World War.
Our urgent and collective priority must be to prevent the collapse of the humanitarian response in Gaza, and to stabilize an untenable situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.
This cannot be done without UNRWA’s extensive infrastructure, thousands of staff, and decades-long relationship of trust with Palestine Refugee communities.
I therefore urge you to engage in intensive humanitarian diplomacy to prevent the implementation of the Knesset legislation to end UNRWA’s operations in eight weeks.
When quiet diplomacy and public expressions of concern and condemnation fail, we must consider other measures to preserve the rules-based order.
We must also safeguard the Agency’s role during the transition from a ceasefire to the “day after”.
This will require strong political and financial support.
Initiatives such as the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution can help to determine a viable political path forward.
We must act now in defense of Palestine Refugees and UNRWA, because to do so is to defend the United Nations and the rules-based international order.
It is to defend our collective future, which is today in the greatest jeopardy.
Thank you.
Background Information:
UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency’s area of operations pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.
UNRWA operates in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, The Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Tens of thousands of Palestine refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods due to the 1948 conflict continue to be displaced and in need of support, nearly 75 years on.
UNRWA helps Palestine Refugees achieve their full potential in human development through quality services it provides in education, health care, relief and social services, protection, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance, and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.