Geneva

Excellencies,

Members of the Advisory Commission,

I would like to thank Spain for chairing the Advisory Commission at the most challenging time in UNRWA’s history.

I am also grateful to Brazil and Jordan for joining Spain in convening this timely meeting; and to Lebanon and Australia for their strong support as Chair and Vice Chair of the SubCom.

The leadership of the Advisory Commission is urgently needed to protect the rights of Palestine Refugees, and to safeguard the Agency, at this critical juncture.

The clock is ticking fast towards the implementation of the Knesset legislation, which aims to end UNRWA’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territory, and to shift – unilaterally – the long-established parameters for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict.

What hangs in the balance, is the fate of millions of Palestine Refugees and the legitimacy of the rules-based international order that has been in place since the end of the Second World War.

Excellencies,

The Middle East is on a knife’s edge.

Gaza is an unrelenting dystopian horror.

More than 43,000 people are reported killed. Nearly 70 percent are women and children.

Thousands more lie unaccounted for under the rubble or have succumbed to starvation or disease.

Nearly the entire population has been displaced multiple times.

In 13 months, they have never found safety or a moment’s rest.

They are living in overcrowded makeshift tents, amid mountains of garbage and rivers of sewage.

Across Gaza, 660,000 children who should be in school are learning nothing more than how to survive.

Hostages taken from Israel remain to this day in terrifying captivity.

North Gaza is under a tight siege, as military operations continue.

Palestinians trapped there are stalked by famine or burned and buried alive by airstrikes.

Israeli officials state that people will not be allowed to return to the North.

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In Gaza’s long shadow, the occupied West Bank is undergoing a violent transformation.  

Military incursions by the Israeli Security Forces are a daily reality. 

Public infrastructure is destroyed systematically during military operations, inflicting collective punishment on Palestinians.   

Illegal settlements are expanding at an alarming rate, and in total impunity.

Violence by Israeli settlers is rampant and goes unchecked.

The stage is being set for further annexation.

A senior Israeli minister stated recently that 2025 will be the year of sovereignty in “Judea and Samaria”.

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War has spread to Lebanon, where thousands have been killed.

Nearly one million people have been displaced, as Israeli Forces’ airstrikes and ground operations continue.

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Nearly half a million people – among them 5,000 Palestine Refugees – have fled from Lebanon to Syria, a country that is struggling to recover from war, an economic crisis, and devastating earthquakes.

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Jordan is not immune to the social and economic impact of growing instability in neighboring countries.

Across a troubled region, millions of Palestine Refugees are deeply anxious.

They fear that events far beyond their control will deprive their children of education; and prevent them from accessing the healthcare and social support on which their lives depend.

They fear that after decades of waiting, hope for a just and lasting solution to their plight is fading.

That the dream of Palestinian self-determination may be ending.

Compounding these fears is the Government of Israel’s campaign to end UNRWA.

Members of the Advisory Commission,

A year of relentless attacks against the Agency – in blatant violation of international law – has seen 246 UNRWA personnel killed in Gaza.

More than two-thirds of our premises have been damaged or destroyed.

Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, as well as Israeli forces have allegedly used our premises for military purposes. 

I have strongly, repeatedly and publicly condemned this alleged use of our premises.

Humanitarian aid convoys carrying lifesaving supplies have been struck and looted.

I continue to call for accountability for the attacks on UN personnel, premises and operations through an independent investigation into these violations.

UNRWA has also been subjected to a fierce, global disinformation campaign.

Intense lobbying by the Government of Israel and affiliated groups has targeted parliaments and governments in top donor countries to undermine political and financial support to the Agency.

This has also created a permissive environment for the harassment of UNRWA representatives, including in Europe and the United States.

The campaign against UNRWA is premised on the misguided belief that if UNRWA disappears, so will the issue of Palestine Refugees.

Dismantling UNRWA will not terminate the refugee status of Palestinians – this status exists independently of the Agency – but it will severely harm their lives and future.

Excellencies,

The attacks against UNRWA are being justified by allegations that the Agency is colluding with or infiltrated by Hamas.

UNRWA takes allegations of neutrality breaches extremely seriously.

While we do not operate in a zero-risk environment, we take a zero-tolerance approach to any proven breaches.

The Independent Review of UNRWA’s neutrality found that the Agency has a more robust approach to neutrality than comparable entities.

We are making every effort to implement the recommendations of this review.

To this end, I urge all Member States to support our request for additional resources in the Fifth Committee next month.

I am pleased to report that the Agency is making progress in ensuring that education materials used in UNRWA schools are fully aligned with United Nations values and UNESCO standards.

When required, UNRWA uses textbooks supplied by host countries so that the education we provide to Palestine Refugees is accredited – this allows our students to pursue further education and employment.

We review the textbooks used in our schools annually, and identify instances in which the content is incompatible with United Nations values or UNESCO standards.

We have brought to the attention of the Palestinian Authority a limited number of remaining issues, which the Agency is taking immediate action to address.

I urge host countries and donors to support our efforts.

The Agency is also working tirelessly to ensure staff integrity by conducting background checks.

We are exploring technologies to better screen publicly available information and improve these checks.

Staff are also screened against United Nations sanctions lists.

Through our partnerships with banks, checks against additional sanctions lists are performed as part of the salary distribution process.

For the past 15 years, UNRWA has consistently shared staff lists with host countries and Israel.

This year, we started doing so on a quarterly basis.

I must stress that UNRWA – like comparable United Nations entities – does not have police, military or intelligence capabilities.

We rely on Member States when such capacities are needed.

We have repeatedly asked the Government of Israel for evidence to support its claims that some UNRWA staff are involved in militant activity.

We have even proposed how sensitive evidence might be shared with the Agency.

We have not received any response so far.

UNRWA cannot address allegations for which it has no evidence.

Yet, these allegations continue to be used to undermine the Agency.

Members of the Advisory Commission,

UNRWA is a soft target for warring parties that view its presence and activities as a threat.

Hamas has repeatedly and publicly accused UNRWA, especially its senior management, of colluding with the Israeli occupation.

For many years, Hamas has strongly opposed UNRWA’s education programme, challenging our commitment to gender equality and neutrality.

Hamas has even disapproved of the Agency’s Summer Fun Weeks programme, which brings girls and boys together for art, games, music, sports and psychosocial support. 

Let me state the obvious – UNRWA is not a party to this conflict.

It is a United Nations agency.

It is the mechanism through which the United Nations is tasked – by the General Assembly – to assist Palestine Refugees.

All parties to the conflict have a responsibility to allow UNRWA to fulfill its mandate.

Excellencies,

At the start of this year, UNRWA faced an existential financial crisis.

While all donors but one have resumed funding to the Agency, our financial situation remains precarious.

The strict implementation of cost control measures and some additional financial contributions will likely allow us to close the year.

But not without a deficit and rolling millions of dollars in liabilities into 2025.

There is no clear path beyond that.

Our cashflow in the first quarter has traditionally relied on funding from the United States.

In the absence of this funding, we need early contributions from other donors to avoid an acute cashflow crisis in the new year.

I know it will be challenging, as several major donors are anticipating austerity cuts in their budgets.

As UNRWA battles for survival, adequate resources to implement our mandate is the bare minimum that we require, and that Palestine Refugees deserve.

Excellencies,

Even if the war ends tomorrow, the future of Gaza looks bleak.

UNDP estimates that human development has been set back by seven decades.

Without UNRWA, the prospects for recovery will be even more grim.

Implementing the Knesset legislation, and forcibly excluding UNRWA from a transition, will have catastrophic consequences.

In Gaza, dismantling UNRWA will collapse the United Nations humanitarian response, which relies heavily on the Agency’s infrastructure.

Glaringly absent from discussions about Gaza without UNRWA, is education.

Palestinians value education highly – it is the only asset from which they have not, until now, been dispossessed.

In the absence of a capable public administration or state, only UNRWA can deliver education to more than 660,000 girls and boys in Gaza.

Are we willing to let these children be denied the right to education?

To sacrifice an entire generation, and sow the seeds for marginalization and extremism?

It is also horrifying that people enduring a devastating war might be left without basic healthcare.

Before the war, UNRWA addressed 70 to 80 percent of primary healthcare needs in Gaza.

We still provide 16,000 medical consultations on a daily basis in Gaza.

In the West Bank, UNRWA’s collapse would deprive at least 50,000 children of education, and half a million Palestine Refugees of primary healthcare.

The Agency is the second largest employer after the Palestinian Authority and represents an estimated five to eight percent of the GDP.

Its collapse will further fuel the current instability.

UNRWA is a direct provider of public-like services to an entire population – there is no other UN entity geared to fill the void left by the Agency.

To think otherwise is to misunderstand the mandates and specialized capacities of our sister agencies.

If UNRWA cannot operate in the occupied Palestinian territory, the responsibility for providing services to Palestinians – and for bearing the cost of these services – will lie not with the United Nations, but with Israel as the occupying power.

Excellencies,

The Knesset legislation is placing an enormous additional burden on our staff, who have worked tirelessly for 13 months to deliver UNRWA’s mandate in near-impossible circumstances.

17,000 staff in the occupied Palestinian territory fear that they will lose their employment.

They also fear further attacks, legitimized by these laws.

It is a valid fear.

Recently, a female staff member in the West Bank was detained, intimidated and harassed by Israeli Security Forces.

They accused her of working for a terrorist organization, seized her UNRWA computer, and used it to access internal information.

A total violation of United Nations privileges and immunities.

Despite everything they have been through, my staff is afraid that the worst is yet to come.

Without your decisive intervention, UNRWA will collapse, plunging millions of Palestinians – including our staff – into chaos.

I will conclude by reiterating the three requests I made to the General Assembly last week in New York:

First, I ask that Member States act to prevent the implementation of the legislation against UNRWA.

Changes to UNRWA’s mandate are the prerogative of the General Assembly, not individual Member States.

Second, I ask that Member States ensure that any plan for a political transition delineates UNRWA’s role.

The Agency must progressively conclude its mandate within the framework of a political solution, and, in the occupied Palestinian territory, hand over its services to an empowered Palestinian administration.

Third, I ask that Member States maintain funding to UNRWA, and do not withhold or divert funds on the assumption that the Agency can no longer operate.

The cost of providing critical services, including education and healthcare, during a transition will be immense.

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What is at stake today is not just UNRWA as an institution.

It is the collective future of Palestine Refugees.

Our actions in response to the immense challenges that confront us must be guided by what will protect and serve them best.

I can assure you that my team and I will do everything in our power to deliver the mandate entrusted to us, and to continue standing by Palestine Refugees.

Ensuring that the political and legal framework within which we operate holds firm is the responsibility of Member States.

I urge you to defend UNRWA, the United Nations, and our multilateral system with the courage and resolve that this moment demands.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.