Hello and welcome to the details of Explainer: What legal grounds does the UN have to oppose Israel’s ban on UNRWA and what could it mean for Gaza? and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Palestinians queue to receive medicine at the UNRWA Japanese Health Center in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. Israel faced a mounting international backlash on October 29, after its parliament approved a bill banning the main UN aid agency for the devastated Gaza Strip. — AFP pic
NEW YORK, Nov 1 — Israel’s parliament has banned the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA from operating in the country, effective in 90 days.
The ban has sparked international condemnation and raised questions about the legality of Israel’s decision.
Here is key information about the move:
The flag of UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) flies over their West Bank Field Office in Jerusalem on October 29, 2024. — AFP pic
What is UNRWA?
The UN General Assembly created the agency in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees following a war surrounding the founding of Israel, when 700,000 Palestinians were displaced.
UNRWA has been active for decades in the Gaza Strip and for the past year has sought to aid civilians caught up in Israel’s war against Hamas militants in the enclave, where many of the 2.3 million people are suffering from a lack of shelter, food and medical care.
A Palestinian boy walks past a UN vehicles at the UNRWA Japanese Health Centre in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. — AFP pic
What has the United Nations said?
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said Israel’s ban on UNRWA, if implemented, would violate international law, the founding UN Charter and a UN convention adopted in 1946.
In a letter to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Guterres called for UNRWA operations to continue and said Israel cannot use the national law barring UNRWA as “justification for its failure to perform its obligations under international law.”
What are Israel’s obligations?
The UN views Gaza as Israeli-occupied territory, and international law requires an occupying power to agree to relief programs for people in need and to facilitate them “by all the means at its disposal.”
In his letter, Guterres also wrote that article two of the founding UN Charter requires that Israel “shall give the United Nations every assistance” in its work.
He cited as another legal issue the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations — adopted by the General Assembly in 1946 — which covers the diplomatic privileges and immunities granted to UN operations.
He signalled that there was a difference of interpretation or application of the convention between the UN and Israel and that such situations could be referred to the International Court of Justice.
A physiotherapist helps a Palestinian man at the UNRWA Japanese Health Center in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. — AFP pic
What has Israel said?
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement in response to Guterres’ letter: “Israel will continue to facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza according to international law.”
However, Israel contends UNRWA was complicit in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants on Israel, which sparked its Gaza offensive.
Danon said the agency “has been overrun by Hamas.” UNRWA “has failed in its mandate and is no longer the right agency for this job,” he said. The UN said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, and had been fired. Later, a Hamas commander in Lebanon — killed last month in an Israeli strike — was found to have had an UNRWA job.
This photograph shows the Peace Palace, the seat of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in The Hague on May 17, 2024. Norway on October 29, 2024 said it would ask the UN's International Court of Justice to clarify Israel's aid obligations to Palestinians, a day after Israel banned the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. — AFP pic
What are the legal implications?
In response to Israel’s UNRWA ban and other aid obstacles, Norway said on Tuesday that it will put forward a UN General Assembly resolution to ask the International Court of Justice, known as the World Court, for an opinion on Israel’s obligations.
The question before the top UN court would be: Does Israel violate international law as it prevents the UN, international humanitarian organization and states from providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians under occupation?
The court’s opinion would be advisory and not binding under international law. But it would carry legal and political significance.
The Hague-based court has no enforcement powers, so advisory opinions and binding rulings have been ignored by some countries in the past.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Reuters that Norway hoped to put the draft resolution to a vote in the General Assembly in the coming weeks, where it would likely be adopted.
“Clarifying what is legal and what is illegal still makes sense, even if it does not turn into political change overnight,” Eide said.
A man next to a truck at the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) West Bank Field Office in Jerusalem on October 29, 2024. — AFP pic
What about US law?
Under the US Foreign Assistance Act, Washington cannot give military aid to countries that directly or indirectly impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance. The US told Israel in a letter on October 13 that it must take steps within 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid. It also warned Israel in the letter against adopting the UNRWA ban because of the humanitarian impact on Gaza and the Israel-occupied West Bank, although that was not listed as a requirement for avoiding US action.
“There could be consequences under US law and US policy for the implementation of this legislation,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday. — Reuters
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