Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) Public Policy Lecture

11 November 2024, Princeton, New Jersey

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great pleasure to be here in Princeton and to engage with you all.

I would like to thank Professor Didier Fassin and the Institute for Advanced Study for the invitation to deliver the Public Policy Lecture.

This lecture comes at what is perhaps the darkest hour in the history of UNRWA, or the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees, which I have the privilege to lead.

Last week, I addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations because, 75 years after its establishment, UNRWA is on the verge of collapse.

Until a year ago, many people outside the United Nations and the Middle East, were not familiar with UNRWA, despite its massive footprint with 33,000 staff working across the occupied Palestinian territory, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

And yet today, UNRWA’s fate has implications for our entire multilateral system and the rules-based international order that has been in place since the Second World War.

***

It is impossible to overstate the impact of the abhorrent attacks of 7 October 2023 on the State of Israel and the catastrophic war that followed in Gaza.

The attacks on Israel have triggered a deep, collective, and intergenerational trauma.

The United Nations in its entirety has repeatedly condemned these attacks and called for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages.

The shock and horror of the attacks have reverberated across North America, Europe and elsewhere, polarising societies on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The Israeli military and political response have been driven by raw emotion, paving the way for a war conducted without restraint or regard for rules.

The results are devastating.

A year of the most intense bombardment of a civilian population since World War II, and the restriction of humanitarian aid far below minimum needs, has transformed Gaza into a dystopian horror.

• More than 43,000 people are reported killed. This week, the UN Human Rights Office reported that nearly 70 per cent of those killed are women and children.
• Thousands more lie unaccounted for under the rubble or have succumbed to starvation or disease.
• More than 17,000 children are unaccompanied, separated from their families and caregivers in an apocalyptic wasteland. They are at daily risk of exploitation and abuse, including recruitment by armed groups.
• Nearly the entire population of Gaza – some two million people – has been displaced multiple times across a decimated territory, searching for safety that does not exist.
• These are staggering figures, that are difficult to comprehend. They cannot be dismissed by asserting that all, most, or many of the dead, injured and displaced are terrorists.
• Meanwhile, hostages taken from Israel into Gaza remain in terrifying captivity, their families abandoned in a state of deep and prolonged distress.
• In northern Gaza, Palestinians are being burned and buried alive by airstrikes.
• A brutal siege, and attacks on hospitals and rescue teams, are denying basic, lifesaving supplies and assistance to the population.
• Hunger is widespread and famine has likely already taken hold.
• Thousands of men and boys are being arrested and detained in undisclosed locations.
• The actions of Israeli forces, as well as some Palestinian armed groups, and conditions of pervasive insecurity, are rendering the humanitarian response untenable.

In the shadow of Gaza, the occupied West Bank is gripped by escalating conflict. 

• Attacks by Israeli settlers and military incursions are a daily occurrence. 
• Illegal settlement activity is expanding aggressively.
• Public infrastructure is destroyed deliberately during military operations, inflicting collective punishment on Palestinians.  
• The economy is on the verge of collapse, and despair is growing.

The events on and after 7 October last year have generated seismic changes.

 We are living in dangerous and unpredictable times. Dangerous not only because of the war in Gaza and escalating tensions in the region – including the turmoil in Lebanon – but also because the rules-based international order that has been in place since the end of the Second World War, is fraying. 

The Geneva Conventions were put in place 75 years ago to protect civilians and non-combatants during conflict – a set of rules as old as UNRWA, on which we all agreed. But do we still?

Today, the Conventions are increasingly challenged and at risk of becoming irrelevant. So much so that the United Nations General Assembly has asked Switzerland – as the depository of the Geneva Conventions and in the context of the war in Gaza – to convene Member States, the High Contracting Parties, in the interest of upholding international humanitarian law.

The lack of meaningful action in defence of international law is weakening the foundations of our multilateral system and it will have consequences.

It is fuelling growing resentment in the Global South, where people largely believe that the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in international law do not apply equally, and certainly not when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

***

In Gaza, we have also seen an unprecedented, blatant disregard for United Nations personnel, premises and operations. UNRWA has been uniquely affected:

• At least 243 UNRWA personnel have been killed in 13 months.
• Two-thirds of our premises have been damaged or destroyed.
• Nearly 600 displaced people have been killed while sheltering in our buildings, seeking the protection of the UN flag.
• Clearly marked humanitarian aid convoys have been struck despite coordinating movement with the Israeli Security Forces, and many have been looted by armed gangs amid a breakdown of civil order.
• We have received allegations that the Israeli Security Forces and Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, have used the Agency’s premises for military purposes.
• I have strongly, repeatedly and publicly condemned this alleged use of our premises. Given that all of Gaza is an active combat zone mostly under evacuation orders, the Agency cannot possibly verify these allegations.
• I continue to call for accountability for the attacks on UN personnel, premises and operations through an independent investigation into these violations.

In the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) more broadly, the operational space for the United Nations, international NGOs and all those advocating compliance with international humanitarian law, is shrinking.

• In occupied East Jerusalem, UNRWA’s headquarters was set on fire.
• Local authorities are attempting to evict us from these premises to build settlements.
• But it is not only UNRWA that is targeted. Any individual, organisation or country calling for adherence to international humanitarian law or promoting a peaceful political solution to this decades-long conflict is at risk of being unable to operate.

The failure to push back against attempts to intimidate and undermine the United Nations and the broader international community has set a dangerous precedent.

• Look no further than Lebanon and the attacks on UNIFIL – the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
• Consider how Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire and the scaling up of humanitarian aid in Gaza are openly defied.
• How the binding orders of the International Court of Justice to prevent genocide in Gaza and end an unlawful occupation are brushed off. 

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Israeli officials have described dismantling UNRWA as a war goal.

In addition to the physical and legislative attacks within the occupied Palestinian territory, the Agency has also been subjected to a fierce, global disinformation campaign.

Intense diplomatic lobbying by the Government of Israel and affiliated groups has targeted parliaments and governments in top donor countries.

Civil lawsuits have been filed in several countries against members of UNRWA’s senior management team.

These efforts culminated in the adoption last month by the Israeli parliament of legislation to end the Agency’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territory.

***

I would like to briefly address the operational environment in Gaza, where the Agency has been tasked by UN Member States to deliver services. It has become increasingly challenging and complex over the past two decades. As the prospects for the Oslo peace process faded, armed militants gained traction, with Hamas taking control in 2007.

Since coming to power, Hamas has been aided and encouraged by senior representatives of the Israeli government, which has for decades allowed – and even facilitated – the funding of Hamas from abroad, to undermine the Palestinian Authority, and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian State.

Simply put, the government of Israel is accusing UNRWA of colluding with or being infiltrated by an armed group that the government has actively supported for years.

It has been extremely difficult for UNRWA to function in Gaza since Hamas came to power. The Agency has had to push back constantly on Hamas threats against its management.

• Hamas has repeatedly and publicly accused UNRWA, especially its senior management, including me, of colluding with the Israeli occupation.
• For many years, Hamas has strongly opposed UNRWA’s education programme. It has challenged the Agency’s commitment to gender equality and adherence to the humanitarian principle of neutrality, which requires that humanitarian actors do not take sides in hostilities, or engage in controversies of a political, racial, religious, or ideological nature. In 2023, Hamas demanded that the Agency withdraw its ethics guidelines for staff.
• Hamas has even disapproved of the Summer Fun Weeks programme run by UNRWA, which engages children in art, games, music and sports. 

***

The attacks against UNRWA are justified by repeated accusations, particularly since October 7 last year, that the Agency is colluding with or infiltrated by Hamas.

In January this year, the Government of Israel alleged that 12 UNRWA staff members in Gaza (out of 13,000) participated in the October 7 attacks.

As a result, 16 donors decided to suspend funding to the Agency amounting to 438 million US$ in less than 48 hours, very nearly ending our operations.

UNRWA and the United Nations took the allegations seriously and acted swiftly and decisively.

 An independent investigation into allegations concerning 19 staff members was launched by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).

• It concluded that, if authenticated and corroborated, available evidence could indicate that nine staff members may have been involved in the attacks.
• These staff members were dismissed in the interests of the Agency.

The UN Secretary-General also commissioned an independent review of UNRWA’s neutrality by three Scandinavian institutes, under the leadership of the former French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna.

• The review concluded that the Agency’s systems to ensure neutrality are more developed than those of similar UN or non-governmental entities.
• It also recognized the complexity of UNRWA’s operating environment, in which upholding neutrality requires support from and cooperation with Member States, including Israel.

UNRWA takes allegations of neutrality breaches extremely seriously.

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

We are making every possible effort to implement the recommendations of the independent review to further strengthen our approach to neutrality.

I must emphasize here that UNRWA – like comparable UN entities – does not have police, military or intelligence capabilities.

We rely on Member States when such capacities are needed, especially when operating in environments controlled by powerful militant groups.

For over 15 years, UNRWA has shared annually the names of its staff with the Government of Israel. We now share these names on a quarterly basis.

This includes the names of staff about whom the government never previously raised concerns, but now include in lists alleging armed militancy.

We have repeatedly asked the Government of Israel for evidence, and even proposed how sensitive evidence might be shared.

We have not received a response.

This lack of good faith engagement places UNRWA in the invidious position of being unable to address allegations for which it has no evidence, while these allegations continue to be used to undermine the Agency.

The outcome of the independent review and extensive engagement with Member States have led to the resumption of funding to the Agency by all donors, except the United States.

However, UNRWA’s financial situation remains extremely precarious; and a campaign of misinformation and disinformation against the Agency continues unabated.

***

Why is it that in the occupied Palestinian territory, UNRWA – one of the oldest and largest United Nations agencies – has come under such fierce and relentless attack?

To answer that question, and to understand the purpose and impact of the recent legislative actions of the Israeli parliament against UNRWA, we must first understand the Agency – what it has done for three quarters of a century, and what it has meant to generations of Palestine Refugees.

***

UNRWA was created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1949, to provide public-like services – including education, primary healthcare and social support – to more than 700,000 Palestinians displaced during the creation of the State of Israel.

In lieu of a state, Palestine Refugees were granted a stop-gap measure – a United Nations agency mandated to provide services pending a just and lasting political solution to their plight. That is, until we have a definitive answer to the question of Palestine.

UNRWA still exists today because a political solution does not.

The Agency embodies the commitment of the international community to Palestine – a commitment that has yet to be fully realized.

For 75 years, UNRWA has been part of the social fabric of Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Our education programme provides free basic education to more than half a million girls and boys in 700 schools across the region. The education programme in Gaza was the largest – before October 7, approximately 300,000 children attended 200 UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip.

• UNRWA has nurtured generations of Palestinians who have enriched their communities and our world.
• Today, you can find UNRWA alumni everywhere—in hospitals, research labs, universities, and even at NASA.
• Countless alumni have told me about the pivotal role an UNRWA education has played in their lives.
• An education that champions human rights and gender equality; and promotes tolerance and respect for cultural identity.
• Palestinians value education highly – it is a source of deep pride and joy, as I am sure it is for students here in Princeton.
• For Palestinians, education has additional significance – it has been the only asset from which they have not, until now, been dispossessed.

UNRWA’s health programme provides comprehensive primary healthcare to millions of Palestine Refugees across the region.

• We are proud to have achieved universal vaccination in Palestine Refugee communities, even exceeding vaccination rates in Europe and North America in 2023, before the war in Gaza.

Through our human development work, UNRWA has been a force for stability in the region. In private communications, Israeli civilian and military authorities have repeatedly acknowledged that UNRWA is important for Israel’s security because of its stabilizing effect.

But this is not all. During times of war, the Agency has been able to transform itself into a humanitarian machine.

We have seen this during the past year in Gaza:

• Our teachers became shelter managers overnight.
• Our clinics were transformed into emergency rooms, amid a near-total collapse of hospitals.
• Most recently, we played a critical role in an emergency polio vaccination campaign.
• UNRWA is a lifeline for millions of Palestine Refugees engulfed by a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Agency is also the custodian of Palestinian history and identity.

• Since its establishment, UNRWA has maintained and updated family files of registered Palestine Refugees.
• These files – consisting of some 30 million documents – span up to five generations. They document everything from family composition to place of origin, to the circumstances of displacement in 1948.
• Preserving these files is essential to protecting Palestine Refugee rights under international law.

In recent months, in a story that could be a Hollywood drama, our brave staff managed to rescue millions of irreplaceable archival files – using plastic trash bags and flatbed trucks – from our field office in Gaza City to safety outside the occupied Palestinian territory.

We are now working to develop a state-of-the-art digital archive, including a search tool for individual refugees to trace their family trees and history.

I heard a story recently about a Palestinian researcher who visited our archives.  She asked about her grandfather, and we were able to show her original documents, handwritten in pencil, that described her grandfather’s journey, his belongings, and what he left behind.

The possibilities created by new technologies may soon allow you to explore these invaluable records – including perhaps, for some of you, your own family histories.

***

It is indisputable that UNRWA has played a central role in the lives of Palestine Refugees since its creation; and that it has been the repository of their collective memory.

It is a responsibility we continue to fulfill.

During the past year, Israel has prevented international journalists from entering and reporting independently from Gaza.

It is therefore UNRWA that has borne witness to the countless horrors and indignities that Palestinians in Gaza have endured.  

• Images from our shelters in Gaza have opened the eyes of the world to the inhumane conditions in which displaced people live.
• Testimonies from people, including in the north of the Gaza Strip, which is under siege, have reached audiences like you thanks to our staff.

It is UNRWA that has loudly and repeatedly raised the alarm regarding violations of international humanitarian law and the United Nations Charter.

It is our information that helped to create an evidence base for the rulings of the International Court of Justice.

It is safe to say that UNRWA has become a thorn in the side of the Government of Israel.

***

The efforts to dismantle UNRWA are not about neutrality. Proven breaches by individuals can be addressed through cooperation between the United Nations and its Member States.

The true purpose of these efforts is to strip Palestinians from their refugee status, thereby unilaterally changing the parameters for a future political solution.

UNRWA’s very existence is an obstacle to those seeking to undermine the principles for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict that have been pronounced by the General Assembly and the Security Council over decades.

It is misguided to think that dismantling UNRWA will end the refugee status of Palestinians. Even if UNRWA were to be dismantled – in violation of the mandate granted by General Assembly resolution 302 – the refugee status of Palestine Refugees would remain. This status is conferred by a separate General Assembly resolution, which predates the creation of UNRWA.

Even in UNRWA’s absence, General Assembly Resolution 194 would call for Palestine Refugees’ right of return, or, for those choosing not to return, compensation for loss or damage to property.   

***

As I mentioned earlier, the efforts to dismantle UNRWA culminated at the end of last month – on 28 October – with the Israeli parliament striking a deadly legislative blow by passing laws to end the Agency’s operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

The legislation passed with broad, cross-party support, and was only opposed by Arab Israeli parliamentarians.

It forbids contact between Israeli state officials and UNRWA representatives and prohibits UNRWA operations in what it calls “the sovereign territory of the State of Israel”.

The implementation of the legislation will have disastrous consequences.

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

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

In the absence of a capable public administration or state, only UNRWA can deliver education to more than 650,000 girls and boys in Gaza, who live in the rubble, deeply traumatized.

In the absence of UNRWA, an entire generation will be denied the right to education. Their future will be sacrificed, sowing the seeds for deprivation, marginalization and extremism.

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

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

Dismantling UNRWA will only bring more instability to what is already a volatile place.

***

The Government of Israel claims that UNRWA can simply be replaced and that its services can be taken over by other UN entities. This is false.

UNRWA is unique among UN entities in that it is a direct provider of public-like services, including education and primary healthcare. There is no other agency that can take over these functions at the required scale.

Moreover, UNRWA is the mechanism through which the United Nations is tasked – by the vast majority of Member States acting through the General Assembly – to assist Palestine Refugees.

If UNRWA’s operations end 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.

***

The reputational attacks on UNRWA, and the effort to end its operations in the occupied Palestinian territory, must also be considered in the context of the July 2024 ruling of the International Court of Justice – the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

The Court found that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory remains an occupation, and that the continued presence of Israel as an occupying power constitutes an internationally wrongful act and must be ended as rapidly as possible.

Several aspects of the Court’s findings make evident the brutality of Israel’s occupation:

• On Israel’s settlement policy, the Court highlights several practices as illegal, such as:
  • Transferring settlers to the West Bank and East Jerusalem and maintaining their presence.
  • Confiscating land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem pursuant to Israeli domestic law.
  • Using the natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory, including diverting a large share of these resources to Israel’s own population.
  • Forcibly displacing Palestinians, including through forcible evictions, extensive house demolitions, and restrictions on residence and movement; and
  • Systematically failing to prevent or punish attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, as well as the excessive use of force against Palestinians.
• Regarding annexation, the Court finds that Israel’s policies and practices are designed to remain in place indefinitely and to create irreversible effects on the ground.
• Regarding discrimination, segregation and apartheid, the Court finds that the comprehensive restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians constitute systemic discrimination based on race, religion or ethnic origin, in violation of Israel’s obligations under international human rights law. The restrictions include issuing different residence permits for Palestinians, restricting the movement of Palestinians, and demolishing Palestinian homes as a punitive measure.

Where does this leave the international community? All Member States of the United Nations have an obligation to act to uphold international law. Where quiet diplomacy and public expressions of concern and condemnation have failed to influence the Israeli government’s actions, different measures should be considered.

It is important to note that such measures may even be required by national laws and policies – a fact underscored by the letter sent last month to Israel by the Secretaries of State and Defence of the United States.

The letter requests an increase in the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza, invoking the obligations of the National Security Memorandum on Safeguards and Accountability with Respect to Transferred Defense Articles and Defense Services (NSM-20), and the Foreign Assistance Act. It also expresses concern about the legislation against UNRWA.

***

The conflict in Gaza is untenable. Because of the recurrent nature of conflict in the occupied Palestinian territory, there is a dangerous tendency to think of what is happening now as the latest flare up of violence that will eventually subside, allowing a resumption of the status quo.

This is not the case. We have reached a tipping point in the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. What is happening in Gaza and the occupied West Bank today, dwarfs the violence of the first and second intifadas and every prior confrontation between the Israeli Security Forces and Hamas.

Without decisive multilateral action, what awaits the occupied Palestinian territory – especially Gaza – is not a return to its pre-October 7 state.

The deliberate pushing of Palestinians out of northern Gaza – without the possibility to return – and Israeli proposals to privatize the provision of aid, are disturbing indications of the dystopian horror that may lie ahead.

The German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht, describes how “when crimes begin to pile up, they become invisible”. He warns us against becoming numb to the commission of crimes on a great scale, which I fear is happening in Gaza.

I also fear that our humanitarian response – which is required to keep the Palestinian population alive, will result in us, the international community, becoming complicit in the crimes committed by Israel.  

We face an impossible dilemma – one that we have faced before but never to such an extent.  These are moral, legal and ethical issues that we must struggle to address together.

That is another reason why we need an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and unfettered humanitarian access.

This is only the starting point. The transition from a ceasefire to the “day after” will be long and painful. Safeguarding the role of UNRWA, particularly as a provider of education and primary healthcare, is critical for ensuring the survival of a beleaguered population and a viable transition.

The status quo is not an option anymore. We must chart a time-bound path to a political solution. This is the only way to bring Palestinians and Israelis the peace and security they both deserve.

It is the only way to fully implement the rulings of the International Court of Justice.

It is the only way to honour the intentions of the international community as expressed in numerous resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.

It is crucial that these political measures are complemented by efforts to counter polarization and dehumanization, not just in Israel and Palestine, but in all our societies.

The conflict in Gaza has revealed a highly concerning deficit of mutual empathy. This attitude has been fostered over decades through competing narratives that begin at different points in the same history, anchored by divergent beliefs concerning the original sin that triggered the conflict.

Israelis and Palestinians are neighbours who no longer know each other, divided by war and growing isolation.

It is both tragic and ironic, because Palestinians and Israelis share a long and profound history of oppression, grief and loss that most others could not begin to imagine or understand.

Losing our empathy is a dangerous path to losing our humanity. As Hannah Arendt said, “the death of empathy is one of the first and most telling signs of a culture on the verge of descending into barbarism”.

Rising populism and bigotry threaten the rules-based international order that has been painstakingly fostered since the end of the Second World War.

International solidarity around our shared values is needed now more than ever and each of us has a role to play.

We must re-commit to multilateralism and its institutions, including the United Nations of which UNRWA is an integral part.

***

Today, as the implementation of the Knesset legislation threatens to end UNRWA’s operations, millions of Palestine Refugees fear that the public services on which their lives depend will soon disappear.

They fear that their children will be deprived of education; that illnesses will go untreated; and that social support will stop.

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

The entire population of Gaza fears that their only remaining lifeline will be cut.

Without intervention, UNRWA will collapse, plunging millions of Palestinians into chaos.

Last week, I made three urgent requests to United Nations Member States in an effort to prevent this devastating outcome:

• First, I asked 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 asked Member States to 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 handover its services to an empowered Palestinian administration.
• Finally, I asked 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. Additionally, abruptly dismantling the Agency will cost more than half a billion US$ in staff separation indemnities alone.

***

The future of Palestine Refugees is a shared responsibility.

I believe UNRWA has delivered on its mandate to a standard far beyond anything that could be asked of any UN entity or staff.

• Gazans say UNRWA is the only pillar of their lives still standing.
• My staff has worked for 13 months without pause, in great danger, amid personal tragedies and family displacement. Teachers are managing shelters for tens of thousands. Primary healthcare staff are performing surgeries. Drivers are risking their lives each day to save people from starvation. Managers are making impossible life or death decisions.
• UNRWA has helped to ensure Gaza’s survival until now, sustaining hopes for a political solution. My staff has given far more than we have the right to ask of them.

It is now time for us all to act in defence of Palestine Refugees and of UNRWA, because to do so is to defend the United Nations, which lies at the heart of our multilateral system. It is to defend our collective future, which is today in the greatest jeopardy.

Thank you.