UN AGENCY SEEN AS TOO IMPORTANT TO FAIL DESPITE FUNDING CUTS
▶ Israel’s western allies reluctant to dismantle UNRWA due to perceived lack of alternatives, say officials
Last month’s funding freeze by major donors threatened to be the death knell for the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, which has struggled for years to finance its activities.
But there is a reluctance to let it go under – at least in the short term – even among nations that have sought its dissolution, including Israel, officials say.
The funding freezes followed Israeli allegations that a dozen UNRWA employees took part in the October 7 attacks led by Hamas in Israel.
While those accusations are under review by a UN panel, their more immediate impact will be on the agency’s ability to continue helping Gazans through the humanitarian crisis created by the war.
The UNRWA’s collapse would deprive millions of Palestinians – not just in Gaza, but also in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria – of aid, financial support, health care and education.
However, it would be a political victory for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government, which has long called for an alternative.
Despite a torrent of Israeli criticism over the years, there is a prevailing view that the agency is too important to fail.
Behind closed doors, even Israel’s western allies are signalling that they would prefer the UNRWA, however flawed, to continue assisting Palestinians and prevent further instability in the Middle East.
UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini acknowledged the pressure on his agency during a visit to Jerusalem on Friday, saying he had felt compelled to immediately sack nine of the 12 accused employees, rather than suspend them pending an investigation.
“Knowing that the organisation is under fierce and ugly attacks, I could not take the risk,” Mr Lazzarini said. “I could have suspended them, but I fired them.”
Two other employees accused by Israel are reportedly dead, and there is uncertainty about the whereabouts of the 12th.
The UN is investigating Israel’s allegations, but even before they emerged, Mr Lazzarini announced a review of the agency’s neutrality last month, with former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna appointed this month to lead it.
Three officials from western countries told The National that the UNRWA has underestimated the pro-Israel lobby for too long, not only in the US, but also in Europe.
The lobby has argued for years that UNRWA staff are biased and that the education material in its schools promotes hatred.
“The UNRWA have not been helping themselves. Their reactions have not been the best,” said one of the officials. “You cannot just imply that the issue only concerns a few bad apples, although the UNRWA did fire those people and launch an investigation.
“With so many staff in Gaza, it is plausible that a significant number of them are pro-Hamas. The question should be whether there is something systematic within the UNRWA to promote this.”
The UNRWA was struggling financially even before the allegations prompted major donors such as the US, Germany and Britain to suspend funding. According to the agency, it started last year with debt of $75 million carried over from the previous year.
“You could say for the past decade, the UNRWA has been going through a deep financial crisis for a number of reasons,” said the agency’s spokeswoman, Juliette Touma.
One issue is the UNRWA’s financing model – it is an agency without a reserve, meaning it does not have a resource to tap into in an emergency. “It’s not a predictable and sustainable funding model,” Ms Touma said. For instance, only a handful of countries donate on a multiyear basis.
The agency took a hit in 2018 when the US, its biggest donor, slashed funding on then-president Donald Trump’s orders, although his successor, Joe Biden, restored the funding after taking office in 2021.
The officials said that, despite growing calls in the West for the de facto destruction of the UNRWA, nobody wants to deal with the consequences.
One official said there was “a lot of wheeling and dealing” in western capitals to find ways for the funding freeze not to affect the UNRWA’s operations in the next three months, with most donors having released enough funds before the suspension to keep the agency running in the short term.
Another official said “the only thing stopping the UNRWA from collapsing is that the West does not want to escalate the conflict by deepening the humanitarian disaster”.
“There is no other organisation within the international system to replace the UNRWA,” he added, noting that the the UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, was seen as unsuitable because of its co-operation with President Bashar Al Assad in Syria.
“There is no UN organisation that is clean.”
Another ray of hope of for the UNRWA’s continued existence is a split within the Israeli establishment on whether dismantling the agency would be advantageous to Israel, the officials said.
Although Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly called for the UNRWA to be replaced, Israeli security officials have been urging western nations to
The UNRWA was under financial pressure even before the funding freeze, having started last year with $75 million of debt
continue financing it. “They have made it clear that Israel has no readiness to jump into this as international law requires,” one of the officials said, referring to Israel’s humanitarian obligations as an occupying power.
“There is a very strong split within the Israeli political system and security establishment.”
Israel has long objected to the UNRWA’s existence, but more so as its governments have shifted further right.
Its opposition to the agency is rooted in a long-term goal to undermine the right of return of Palestinians who fled or were forced to leave during Israel’s creation in 1948.
However, the latest allegations may have been aimed to deflect attention from the war in Gaza, western and Middle Eastern sources said, pointing out that the accusations were made public as the International Court of Justice delivered its initial opinion on the genocide case against Israel.
One western official said the UNRWA had to address all Israeli allegations, “however outrageous”, because since October 7, fewer leaders in donor countries were willing “to spend political capital” on defending the agency.
An Arab official who deals with the UNRWA told The National that although the agency has come to be seen as a vehicle for Palestinian advancement, mainly by providing schooling, its existence has no bearing on the right of return.
“What the Israeli officials don’t get is that the right of return is an individual right that precedes the UNRWA,” he said. “Even if the UNRWA goes away, the right of return will not.”