Suspension of UN aid agency's funding more collective punishment, former worker warns
The UNRWA's role is vital to Palestinians' survival in Gaza and states defunding it are going against the ICJ, as well as being complicit in genocide, Marilyn Garson says.
A former UNRWA worker says the aid agency is indispensable to the survival of Palestinians in Gaza and that suspension of its funding is another form of collective punishment.
Wellington woman Marilyn Garson told In Context countries that had decided to stop funding the body, over complaints by Israel, made its leaders complicit in a genocide unfolding in the besieged coastal strip.
At the time of publication, the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy had announced a ‘pause’ in funding for UNRWA after Israel accused it of employing staff involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) was assessing whether it would release funds for 2024.
The UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) has ordered an investigation based on information supplied by Israel and is reported to have taken several people off its payroll.
On January 27, the same day the International Court of Justice (ICJ) determined Israel had a plausible case to answer over accusations by South Africa it was committing a genocide, Israel’s spin doctor Mark Regev claimed UNRWA teachers had "openly celebrated" October 7, that a hostage had been held in UNRWA’s worker’s home and that a UNRWA trade union was “controlled by Hamas”.
Israel claimed 12 UNRWA members being involved in the Hamas attack on military installations and settlements on October 7, but presented little to no evidence.
Media reports however served to distract the public from news of ICJ orders.
The decision to suspend funding also signalled serious harm to come for Palestinians in Gaza. The agency provides healthcare and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
“Every Palestinian refugee in each of those places will be immediately affected by any suspension of aid.” Garson said.
“On which planet does that collective punishment make sense?”
Approximately 27,000 people, mostly women and children have been killed since October 7, according to Palestinian health authorities, while nearly 2 million have been displaced. Starvation and disease now stalk residents of the coastal strip, while medical facilities have been bombed and left without essential supplies.
Garson was a contractor for UNRWA between 2013 and 2015, where she helped launch a social enterprise offering IT training and jobs, reporting to the body’s director of operations.
She was also involved in the group’s emergency management team during the 2014 ‘war’, helping to shelter 293,000 Gazans. According to the UN, 2251 Palestinians died during the violence. The work gave her a solid understanding of how vital the organisation’s work is to saving lives and alleviating suffering.
“From this experience, I witnessed UNRWA's essential role in Gaza's humanitarian aid system,” she said.
“No other organisation has UNRWA's logistical expertise, its infrastructure and its most vital local networks of people from across the Gaza Strip. Whatever portion of that capacity remains, it will be indispensable to the survival of people who have nowhere else to turn behind a blockade wall.”
Garson pointed out the ICJ had recognised the necessity of providing humanitarian assistance at this critical moment and that the UNRWA was integral to that work. The decision to suspend funding flew in the face of the court’s orders, she said.
“It beggared belief that donor states would cut off funds for precisely this work, just a day after the ICJ elevated that work into global headlines. If those governments were not complicit in the risk of genocide before, they are now,” she said.
The ICJ ruling ordered six provisional measures. These include that Israel refrains from acts under the Genocide convention and that it takes immediate and effective measures to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Gazans. Israel must also prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to genocide.
Israel has repeatedly hampered UNRWA activities and bombed its facilities, including schools and health clinics. Over 100 UN workers have been killed by Israeli forces over the past 4 months. Last week the IDF destroyed UN facilities in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where Palestinians have been concentrated close to the border with Egypt and the Sinai desert, a preferred location for mass expulsion according to a leaked Israel ‘concept’ policy paper.
In September 2022, New Zealand signed a three-year funding agreement worth $3 million ($US1.8 million) with the UNRWA. It has supported the body since 1951.
US funding to the organisation is worth US$344 million, while Germany gives $US202 million. Those nations withholding money collectively donate $667 million, according to UNRWA 2022 figures.
With the other four countries involved in the Five Eyes intelligence network suspending payments to the body, the public’s eyes will be on the coalition government to see if it breaks ranks and join other countries like Ireland, which has refused to stop its funding.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) in a statement said the government was taking Israel’s allegations “very seriously” and would be engaging with UNRWA and other donors on the issue.
It said the government had a $1 million contribution planned for 2024 and that it would be following the UN investigation closely.
“As we always do prior to releasing funds, we will assess the situation again prior to that payment being made,” it said.
“New Zealand remains committed to supporting the critical humanitarian response in Gaza. We continue to call for safe and unimpeded humanitarian access so that affected civilians can receive the lifesaving assistance that is so desperately needed.”
The statement added New Zealand’s immediate humanitarian contribution had involved allocating $5 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and $5 million to the World Food Programme (WFP).
In contrast to the media attention given to the UNRWA accusations, coverage of the ICJ hearings in Five Eyes countries has been largely subdued. None of those countries’ state-funded broadcasters, for example, livestreamed South Africa’s historic opening session at The Hague on January 11.
Radio New Zealand failed to run a story reporting on the South African legal team’s opening address, but reported on statements by Israel’s defence team the following day.
On January 27, the national broadcaster’s news bulletin falsely reported that the ICJ had rejected South Africa’s case against Israel, determining it was not guilty of genocide.