{"id":33401,"date":"2024-04-23T10:12:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T10:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/23\/middle-east-crisis-review-of-u-n-agency-prompts-new-calls-to-restore-its-funding\/"},"modified":"2024-04-23T10:12:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T10:12:00","slug":"middle-east-crisis-review-of-u-n-agency-prompts-new-calls-to-restore-its-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/23\/middle-east-crisis-review-of-u-n-agency-prompts-new-calls-to-restore-its-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East Crisis: Review of U.N. Agency Prompts New Calls to Restore Its Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"
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U.N. officials and some donor nations are renewing calls to revive funding for the main U.N. agency aiding Palestinians, after a review found<\/a> that Israel had not provided evidence to support its claim that many employees of the agency are members of terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n

More than a dozen countries, including the United States, suspended funding to the agency, known as UNRWA, after Israel claimed in January that a dozen agency employees had participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks or their aftermath, and that one in 10 staff members in Gaza was a member of Hamas or its ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.<\/p>\n

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The United Nations had commissioned an independent review of the agency in January<\/a>, before Israel circulated its claims, but those charges gave added significance to the inquiry, whose findings were released on Monday. The report issued a series of recommendations for the agency to protect its neutrality, but said that \u201cIsrael has yet to provide supporting evidence\u201d for its accusation that a significant number of agency employees are members of terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n

The review did not address Israel\u2019s accusation that 12 of the agency\u2019s 13,000 employees in Gaza had participated in the Oct. 7 attack or its aftermath, a claim that the United Nations says remains under internal investigation. The United Nations has fired 10 of the 12 employees accused by Israel. <\/p>\n

St\u00e9phane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. secretary general, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, said on Monday that Mr. Guterres had accepted the report\u2019s recommendations and appealed for donors \u201cto actively support UNRWA, as it is a lifeline for Palestine refugees in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caroline Gennez, the minister of development for Belgium, which did not cut off funding to the agency, said that the report showed that UNRWA had \u201calways acted adequately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI call on all donors to resume their support,\u201d she wrote on social media<\/a>. \u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s foreign minister, Miche\u00e1l Martin, was quoted by the national broadcaster<\/a>, RT\u00c9, as saying that he hoped that some countries that had suspended support would now resume it. Ireland, which has strongly condemned Israel\u2019s campaign<\/a> in Gaza, increased aid to UNRWA as other countries were cutting it, he noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very clear from the word go that you could not replace or undermine UNRWA\u2019s role in terms of giving vital aid, teaching, education,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Among the more than a dozen countries that suspended payments over Israel\u2019s accusations, several \u2014 including Australia, Canada and Japan \u2014 have already resumed funding<\/a> UNRWA, citing the spiraling humanitarian catastrophe<\/a> in Gaza and steps taken by the agency to improve accountability.<\/p>\n

The United States has said it would wait for the results of U.N. investigations before deciding whether to resume donations to UNRWA. Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, told reporters on Monday that the Biden administration was reviewing the U.N.-commissioned report and had no assessment yet of its conclusions.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, we welcome the fact that the secretary-general has accepted the recommendations,\u201d Mr. Miller said, adding that the United States had \u201clong made clear that there needs to be reforms at UNRWA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for UNRWA to be closed and replaced \u201cwith responsible international aid agencies.\u201d Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry on Monday called on donor countries to avoid sending money to the organization.<\/p>\n

UNRWA has argued that Israel has targeted it with a \u201cdeliberate and concerted campaign\u201d to undermine its operations<\/a> when its services are most needed.<\/p>\n

The European Union, one of the largest donors to UNRWA, announced in March that it was substantially increasing<\/a> funds to the agency, saying that Palestinians were facing terrible conditions and should not be made to pay for Hamas\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n

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\u2014 <\/span>Patrick Kingsley<\/a><\/span> and Matt Surman<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n