PALESTINIAN factions in the Gaza Strip have rejected what they said was a decision issued by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to freeze recruitment due to a lack of funding.
In a statement issued yesterday, the National and Islamic Forces Group said: ‘UNRWA’s decision to freeze jobs in its sectors, especially the important ones, is unacceptable and rejected.’
The group includes several organisations including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It added: ‘UNRWA’s intention to reduce the health sector services and limit them to primary care will require the cancellation of some important departments, such as physiotherapy, radiology, dental and others, and will consequently end the jobs of the relevant specialists, which is a humanitarian catastrophe.’
The statement pointed out that ‘the cuts will affect sectors related to the basic essentials a citizen needs, such as education, health and services. ‘What will the fate of thousands of graduates be after the decision to freeze jobs comes into effect? And what will the future of the students and patients look like?’
UNRWA employs about 500 teachers at the start of each year. The statement revealed that the factions intend to hold a series of peaceful protests in an attempt to force UNRWA to retreat from its decisions and to put pressure on donor countries to fulfil their obligations.
Local media outlets recently published information that UNRWA intends to freeze its recruitment drive across its five areas of operation; the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The media reports said: ‘The decision to stop recruiting comes within the austerity policy pursued by UNRWA because of the financial deficit it suffers from, which is estimated at $100 million, and in light of the failure of its donors to fulfil their commitments.’ UNRWA has not issued any statement regarding the report.
In an exclusive interview with the Anadolu Agency, an official UNRWA source in Gaza refused to either confirm or deny the reports. Previously, UNRWA said it suffers from a lack of funding which prevents it from providing financial aid to the Palestinians. UNRWA assumes the responsibility for more than five million Palestinian refugees who are registered with it and are living in Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
According to the United Nations, nearly 1.3 million refugees live in the Gaza Strip, 914,000 in the West Bank, 447,000 in Lebanon, 2.1 million in Jordan, and 500,000 in Syria. Israel berated the United Nations on Monday after it allowed a Palestinian non-governmental organisation that it said is linked to Hamas to be heard at the world body.
The UN committee on non-governmental organisations voted 12 to three in favour, with three abstentions, of recognising the British-based Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) as a permanent NGO with access to the world body’s many fora. The Israeli mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the PRC ‘promotes anti-Israel propaganda in Europe’ and that senior PRC members have ties to other organisations that transfer funds to Hamas.
Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor claimed the move amounted to the United Nations giving ‘Hamas a welcoming celebration at its main entrance, allowing it to be a full participant.’ The PRC denied the ‘unfounded Israeli claims’ in a statement, expressing ‘deep frustration and anger by the statement made by Israel’.
‘Due to our clear stance on the key issue of right of return for Palestinian refugees and supporting the related UN resolutions, which is entirely refused/denied by Israel, we are being bombarded by unfounded Israeli claims that we are affiliated to Hamas,’ the organisation said.
It added: ‘We call on the Israeli delegation, to be convincing to the committee members, to come up with any independent evidence from third parties – not Israeli or pro-Israeli sources – that we are affiliated to Hamas. We are certain that the Israeli delegation will utterly fail in this simple task!’
Established in 1996, the PRC describes itself as ‘focusing on the historical, political and legal aspects of the Palestinian Refugees’.
The United States, Uruguay and Israel voted against recognising the PRC as a permanent NGO, while Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkey and Venezuela were among the nations that supported their application at the United Nations. Israel declared the PRC illegal in 2010 after determining that it ‘serves as an organisational and coordinating wing of Hamas in Europe’.
Deputy head of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh said on Monday that there had been no humanitarian or economic progress in the Gaza Strip since the national consensus government was formed a year ago. Haniyeh said that nothing had changed in Gaza, citing the ongoing Israeli blockade, the lack of any significant progress in reconstruction, and crises in employees’ salaries, electricity and water, among others.
The national consensus government of politically independent technocrats was formed in June last year, following a reconciliation deal on April 23. Haniyeh said that his movement had hoped that the formation of the unity government would bring an end to Palestinian division, with the government taking as much responsibility for Gaza and its problems as it does for the West Bank.
He said that the government had been given ‘three main objectives in the Cairo agreement: ending the blockade and accomplishing reconstruction, working on uniting Palestinian Authority institutions in the two parts of Palestine, and preparing for legislative, presidential and national council elections’. However, the Hamas leader said that a full year after the government was formed, it had succeeded in none of these objectives.
He said that the consensus government still has a chance to fulfil its role of representing all Palestinians ‘without discrimination,’ and to treat the West Bank and the Gaza Strip equally and be free of the divisive ‘political will’ that is holding it back. Recent months have seen relations between Hamas and Fatah continue to decline, particularly over an employee dispute in Gaza that remains unresolved.
In the latest crisis, Gaza’s sole energy plant is facing closure after the Ramallah-based Palestinian petroleum authority stopped supplying fuel. Haniyeh made his comments shortly after the German foreign minister led a delegation of 60 German officials into the Gaza Strip, although the German officials chose not to meet with any Hamas leaders.
Haniyeh described visits by international and European councils and ambassadors as ‘exploratory’, carried out to witness the suffering and ‘tragedy’ faced by Gazans. He encouraged the visits, saying that the practical results they brought lessened Gaza’s suffering. Our hope is that these delegations, especially the German delegation, will play an important role in ending the blockade, speeding up the reconstruction, and pressuring the Israeli government to change its aggressive attitude towards innocent civilians,’ Haniyeh said. During his visit, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Israel to lift the blockade of Gaza.
• Israeli forces demolished three Palestinian homes in the Silwan neighbourhood and Salah al-Din street in occupied East Jerusalem early on Tuesday morning. They were told that the houses were demolished because they had been built without necessary licenses from the municipal council. Nidal Abu Rmeila said bulldozers under Israeli army escort had demolished two apartments, totalling 140 square metres, that he had been building in Silwan near the Moroccan Gate of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Abu Rmeila said he had not been able to obtain a license from the Jerusalem municipality as the building was located close to the Al-Aqsa compound in an area he claimed the Israeli antiquities authority is ‘greedily’ interested in. He began construction in late 2014, after which the municipality inspectors ordered him to stop, issuing a demolition order.
Abu Rmeila said the order was postponed several times, adding that bulldozers had arrived two weeks ago to demolish the house, but left after it became clear they were too big to access the building. Tuesday’s demolition was only possible, he said, after the Israelis ‘used a lift to carry small excavators and bring them close to the site’.
Abu Rmeila said Israeli troops had assaulted members of his family when they evacuated the home before the demolition. He said that relatives Hashim Abu Rmeila, Izz al-Din Abu Rmeila and Nur al-Din Abu Rmeila sustained bruises, while his 70-year-old mother was injured when soldiers fired tear gas canisters into the house.
Separately on Tuesday, Israeli forces demolished the upper story of a house on Salah al-Din Street near the Old City belonging to Rafiq al-Salayma. A relative of the owner Abu Jabir al-Salayma said Israeli troops raided the house at 6am and forcibly evacuated the family before workers set about demolishing the upper floor.
The family house was built long ago, al-Salayma said, but ‘because the house was too small’ they had added a new floor and roofed it with clay tiles. The demolitions come less than a week after another house was demolished in Silwan. Silwan is one of many Palestinian neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem witness to an influx of Israeli settlers at the cost of ongoing demolition of Palestinian homes and eviction of Palestinian families.
While Jewish residents frequently take over Palestinian buildings with the protection of Israeli forces, government policies make it nearly impossible for Palestinian residents to obtain building permits, according to Israeli rights group the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
