Borrell warns that the end of UNRWA puts the political solution to the conflict in the Middle East in check “even more”

MADRID Nov. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, warned this Friday that the closure of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), whose activity was prohibited on Monday by the Israeli Parliament, will make “the search for a political solution” to the conflict in the Palestinian territories “even more difficult.”

“The collapse of the agency would unilaterally change the parameters of any future political solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, undermine the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and make the search for a political solution even more difficult,” he said.

These words come after the Knesset approved this Monday a law that prohibits all activities of the UN Agency both in Israel and in the Palestinian territories.

In a statement, the head of European diplomacy has reiterated that this legislation contradicts International Law as well as “the basic principles of humanity.” The 27 have also condemned this measure, warning that if it is applied it will “de facto impede” UNRWA operations in the Gaza Strip, which in turn will have “serious consequences for millions” of people.

Borrell has denounced the attempts by the Israeli authorities to make UN operations in the Palestinian enclave “almost impossible”, in addition to the fact that the dismantling is being done “at (a) critical moment”, when the Integrated Food Safety Classification in Phases (IPC) has warned that if nothing changes, some 345,000 people in the Gaza Strip will reach the highest level of starvation in the next month: at least ten days without food.

“One day we will be asked: ‘Where were we Europeans while people were besieged and starving in Gaza?’ Our answer should not echo our silence, but speak of the actions we took to safeguard UNRWA, the last lifeline for many inhabitants of Gaza,” he declared, ensuring that “(their) future is proof of our humanity.”

Israel has argued for years that UNRWA is an inoperative agency and, since the outbreak of the Gaza war, complicit with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in its attacks on the country. Borrell has criticized that the Hebrew Executive has tried to discredit the Agency, when in March 2023 it stated “without providing evidence” that ten percent of its 13,000 employees were “affiliated with Hamas or Islamic Jihad.”

The end of UNRWA, he assured, “will not contribute to a safer future for the people of the region.” Its mission will end when a “sovereign Palestinian state” exists. “Only a political agreement can bring security and peace to the Israelis, to the Palestinians,” he said.

Borrell has reiterated his call to the parties in conflict to end the war, release the hostages, guarantee the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip and abandon the destruction of infrastructure in the West Bank. “And it is time to finally end the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, as repeatedly called for by the UN Security Council and General Assembly and recently ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).”