Israel's assault on Unrwa will never erase Palestinian right of return
Israel’s recent demolition of Unrwa’s headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem was a deeply shocking event, insufficently discussed.
As the building housing the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees collapsed, Jerusalem’s deputy mayor, Aryeh King, referred to the organisation’s staff as “Nazis”, and declared: “With God’s help, we will destroy, we will eliminate and annihilate all Unrwa personnel.”
This vulgar and arrogant Israeli assault on a vital lifeline for millions of Palestinian refugees was condemned by the UN and by many European nations. To them, it was the latest and most blatant example of Israeli lawlessness. To me, it was a body blow.
I remember the time before Unrwa existed. In 1948, we were forced from our home in Jerusalem and took refuge in the Syrian capital Damascus, alongside thousands of other refugees. Many children were dazed by their displacement, and at my primary school, I recall in particular one sad little girl.
I can still picture how pretty she was, with striking green eyes - but we used to make fun of her, as she stumbled about in men’s army boots, much too large for her feet. We tormented her and made her cry. What we didn’t recognise at the time, was that these were the only shoes her impoverished family could provide.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Looking back, I recall crowds of children like her in our neighbourhood, with no support and no one to turn to. That all changed in 1950 when Unrwa began operating. Created the previous year by the UN General Assembly, it was initially set up to enable Palestinian refugees to work while they awaited repatriation.
But that never happened, and the agency grew to run a network of health clinics, schools and training facilities. Today, it has some 30,000 staff, most of them Palestinian refugees. Its services were indispensable for Palestinians 75 years ago, as they are today.
No escaping reality
Israel has a long history of hostility towards Unrwa, and has worked hard for its dissolution. Several months after the 7 October 2023 attacks, Tel Aviv dealt the agency a killer blow, alleging that 12 Unrwa workers had participated in the Hamas-led operation. The employees were subsequently dismissed, and major western donors halted funding for Unrwa, sparking global outrage.
Since the start of the Gaza genocide, Israel has killed more than 380 Unrwa workers, violating every international law on the protection of health workers. Last year, Israel suspended Unrwa operations across Gaza and the occupied West Bank - and if it continues down this path, it is on course to dismantle Unrwa altogether, depriving Palestinians of a precious resource.
What underlies Israel’s implacable hatred of Unrwa is not a mystery. It is the only impartial international body capable of bursting Israel’s bubble of deception and lies.
Since the state’s inception in 1948, Israel has been at pains to present itself as a respectable member of the international community and a natural part of the Middle Eastern landscape. It had to conceal the incongruity of its existence in an overwhelmingly Arab region, with which it shared no history, religion, language or culture. This lack of authenticity was always a thorn in Israel’s side.
For years, it strove to promote an alternative history that denied the presence of the native Palestinian population - even rejecting the name “Palestine” - and to substitute myth and fantasy for historical realities. Its efforts have met with some success, not least in exploiting the linkage with Christian biblical tradition so many Christians, whether practising or not, are familiar with.
Many people in the West read Israeli literature and watch Israeli films, and believe that Israel has always existed as the land of the Jewish people. They think Israeli culture is indigenous, unaware that, for example, “Israeli cuisine” is copied from traditional Arab dishes, such as hummus and falafel.
But no matter how hard Israel tries, there is no escaping from the historical reality so long as Unrwa remains in existence. Unrwa’s archives, collected over years, are a unique repository of Palestinian history, 30 million documents containing the family files of five generations of refugees since 1948. They are a priceless record, and a lasting testament to the history Israel has worked so hard to erase.
Yet what really puts Unrwa beyond the pale for Israel is that its whole existence is premised on the Palestinian right of return. Established to provide temporary relief in the interim, it was never intended to operate in perpetuity, although Israel’s obduracy has made it seem so.
The Palestinian right of return - enshrined in UN General Assembly Resolution 194, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and common decency - is inextricably linked with Unrwa’s existence. Israel's fantasy is that, by destroying Unrwa, it can delete the right of return, escape its own ignoble beginnings, and believe its own lies.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
