As recently as October, the Biden administration stated that Israel’s legislation targeting the U.N. Relief and Works Agency might violate American law and called on the Jewish state to halt its efforts. On Wednesday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council that the global body must take more initiative.
“The secretary-general’s recent letter regarding UNRWA and the future of aid delivery in Gaza suggests that the United Nations has not yet begun an earnest conversation with Israel regarding implementation of the legislation,” the U.S. envoy said.
“Nor does it appear that relevant U.N. agencies have had detailed conversations regarding steps they could take to help ensure continuity of U.N. aid deliveries to Gaza,” she said. “With lives in the balance, this must change. The United Nations must demonstrate that it will continue to work to find a path to support the people of Gaza.”
The Israeli legislation, which passed in late October, goes into effect in late January and bars UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and prohibits state officials from cooperating with the U.N. agency.
JNS asked a Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, at a Thursday press briefing if the global body plans to turn over responsibilities to Israel on the day the law goes into effect next month or if it will work with Jerusalem and have other U.N. agencies absorb UNRWA’s responsibility.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Dujarric said.
“That’s some of the things we’ve been trying to get. The details we’ve been trying to get, operational details. So UNRWA continues to proceed as is,” he told JNS.
Dujarric said that an agency like the U.N. Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, can’t step in to replace UNRWA teachers in schools in Judea and Samaria, nor can the World Health Organization replace “the hundreds, if not more, of Palestinian health professionals that work in UNRWA clinics.”
“It’s just not possible,” the U.N. spokesman told JNS.
Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. envoy, told the Security Council that Washington reiterates “our concern that Israel must not in any way restrict the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, imposing obstacles that must be removed.”
“Going forward, Israel must also ensure that the implementation of recent legislation does not further impede the delivery of humanitarian assistance and critical services, including by UNRWA, which remains a vital lifeline for Palestinians,” she added.
She added that “the United Nations must work with all relevant parties and have a viable plan in place to facilitate aid deliveries.”
That language stood in contrast with the Biden administration’s earlier position. Antony Blinken and Llloyd Austin, the U.S. secretaries of state and defense respectively, wrote on Oct. 13 to Ron Dermer and Yoav Gallant, the Israeli strategic affairs minister and the then-defense minister, laying out concerns and demands for the improvement of humanitarian aid delivery.
The U.S. officials called on the Israeli government to halt what was then pending legislation on UNRWA. The letter hinted at potential U.S. legal and policy implications should the legislation pass, which it did overwhelmingly some three weeks later.
JNS asked Dujarric at the U.N. press briefing on Thursday if the United Nations has asked Israel to find room without the requirements of the new legislation to delay or amend its implementation.
The room for maneuver is a question you should ask members of the Israeli government,” Dujarric told JNS.
The U.N. spokesman said that should the Jewish state “not allow UNRWA to perform its work, not allow the United Nations to perform its work as mandated in occupied territories,” it “would be up to the Israeli authorities to provide educational services, to provide health services.” (The global body considers Israel an occupier in Gaza which Israel disputes, having withdrawn permanently from the Strip almost 20 years ago.)
It is unclear if UNRWA’s ability to operate in Judea and Samaria will be impacted, or to what extent it might be affected, by the implementation of the laws. UNRWA mostly provides services in Area A, where the Palestinian Authority holds civil and military control, and Area B, where the authority holds civil control.
“If we’re not able to fulfill” UNRWA’s mandate, “that responsibility will fall to the people who have the authority over occupied lands,” Dujarric said.