MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Israel orders UNRWA out of East Jerusalem HQs

“No further warning will be sent,” wrote Goldknopf

The Government of Israel has ordered the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to vacate its headquarters in East Jerusalem within 30 days. The measure was adopted at the request of the ultra-Orthodox Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf. The Israeli Authority of Lands (ILA) claimed that UNRWA owed over 27 million shekels (around € 7 million) for operating on land belonging to Israel “without consent” over the past seven years.

UNRWA was established in 1949 and operates in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan to assist the 700,000 Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes during the creation of the state of Israel.

Goldknopf sent a letter to UNRWA stating that it is “obligated to immediately stop any illegal use, destroy anything you have built in violation of the law, vacate the land from any person or item, and return it to the ILA within 30 days.”

“If you fail to comply, ILA reserves the right to respond with all legal means, and you will have to bear the costs involved. No further warning will be sent.”

The agency claimed it had not received any official communication from the Israeli authorities on the matter and framed the announcement as part of an Israeli campaign to “dismantle” it.

“UNRWA is a United Nations agency that has a mandate from the UN General Assembly since 1949 to do its work. We are not going anywhere,” spokesman Jonathan Fowler said.

Regarding recent allegations that UNRWA had supported the terrorist organization Hamas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, has downplayed these versions and said that UNRWA remained an essential lifeline for Palestinians.