Why US and Israel want to cancel UNRWA

A week ago, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Israel to cooperate with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) following a raid by the Israeli army into the agency’s headquarters in Jerusalem. One hundred and thirty-nine states voted in favour, 12 opposed, including Israel and the US, and 19 abstained. UNRWA praised the resolution as “an important sign of support for [the agency] from the international community.” Earlier this month the General Assembly renewed for three years UNRWA’s mandate despite objections from Israel and the US. Again, the vote was overwhelmingly in favour: 151 of the 175 nations attending the session supporting extension, 10 against, and 14 abstentions. Those against were the "usual suspects" — Fiji, North Macedonia, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, Argentina, Hungary, Palau — all allied to Israel and the US. Abstainers included Europe's Germany, Italy, Latvia and Bulgaria.

UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini posted on X that the decision "reflects the broad solidarity of people across the world with Palestine refugees." He added, "It is also an acknowledgement of the international community's responsibility to support the humanitarian (and) human development needs of Palestinian refugees pending a just (and) lasting solution to their decades-long plight." Since they issued their declaration of independence in November 1988, the Palestinians have called for a ministate state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, 22 per cent of their country. This is is backed by 80 per cent of the 193 UN members and millions of people around the world but rejected by Israel, which has occupied all of Palestine, and the subservient US.

UNRWA was established on December 8th, 1948, as an independent body by the UN General Assembly to care for the majority of the 750,000 Palestinians who were uprooted, impoverished, and denied statehood when Israel emerged from its war of establishment. Palestinian refugees were treated as separate from the post-World War II European refugees who were placed under the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which was created in 1950.

UNRWA's longevity has been determined by Israel's refusal to implement the terms of General Assembly resolution 194, paragraph 11, which resolved "that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date." For Israel and its allies that date has never been "practicable. " This was an unfortunate term used by UN mediator Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte who was assassinated by Zionist Stern Gang terrorists in September 1948. It was his murder that prompted the UN to adopt resolution 194.

The resolution has always been anathema to Israel which conquered 78 per cent of Palestine in its 1948-1949 war and the rest in 1967. Israel and its allies estimated that UNRWA would provide for Palestinians until they were resettled in and absorbed by neighbouring countries. This did not happen. UNRWA camps became distinct areas within host countries, including Israel. Although the Lebanese, Syrians, and Jordanians hosted them, the Palestinians remained stubbornly Palestinian.

Nevertheless, Israeli leaders have adopted the view of Prime Minister Golda Meir (1969-1974) who claimed, "I don't say there are no Palestinians, but I say there is no such thing as a distinct Palestinian people." She meant “distinct” from the other Arabs. She was wrong, of course. Palestinians have always had their own history, culture and nationality. They protested colonial Britain's pledge to facilitate the emergence of a Jewish homeland in Palestine as soon as this this was made in 2017 and staged a rebellion between 1936-1939 against Jewish immigration, forcing Britain to limit the flow of European Jewish settlers into Palestine during World War II.

UNRWA provided a temporary solution for the 1948 Palestinian refugees whose instant, medium and long-term needs could not be met by the Red Cross and Red Crescent and other international relief agencies. However, UNRWA became a quasi-state-within-a-state for stateless Palestinians who refused to deny or cede their identity as Palestinians and were not absorbed en masse by the Arab countries. This is why Israel and the US want to cancel UNRWA without providing an alternative to shoulder the burdens UNRWA has assumed. UNRWA has provided shelter, food, education, job training, employment and welfare services to Palestinians registered with the agency who now number 5.9 million.

Jordan hosts more than 2.39 million registered refugees, Gaza 1.4-1.6 million out of a population of 2.1 million, the West Bank and East Jerusalem 934,000, Syria 438,000 who remain in the country out of 586,842 who are registered, and Lebanon nearly 500,000. The number has swollen as patrilineal descendants of the original refugees are eligible for UNRWA services. Jordan has given citizenship and its perks to Palestinian refugees from East Jerusalem and the West Bank, which were ruled by the kingdom from 1948 until 1967. Palestinian refugees do not have citizenship in Syria but are allowed employment while in Lebanon jobs in certain professions are limited.

During the 1950s and 1960s thousands of educated Palestinians found jobs as teachers, doctors, and administrators in the emerging Gulf counties — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. They contributed Arabic speaking talent and expertise to these countries and remitted funds to families wherever they lived. Some settled permanently in the Gulf and have become citizens.

In mid-2025, there were an estimated 15.2 million Palestinians living in their country and the diaspora. Approximately 7.4 million Palestinians are in geographic Palestine/Israel where there are about 7.4 million Jewish Israelis out of a global population of 15.8 million Jews.