The “Palestinian Presidency”, headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, on Sunday expressed its strong rejection of what it called “the oppressive campaign” led by the Israeli government against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
“The campaign aims to liquidate the issue of Palestinian refugees, contradicting UN Resolution 302, based on which the UNRWA was established on December 18, 1949, and other UN resolutions related to the refugee issue,” said the Presidency in a statement quoted by the PA’s Wafa news agency.
It called on countries that took a stance against UNRWA before the completion of investigations into the Israeli allegations to reconsider their positions. “Such positions, if maintained, would disproportionately punish millions of our people without just cause.”
“This is especially critical as they [our people] were displaced from their land in 1948, and Israel continues to commit crimes against them, including the recent war of genocide on the Gaza Strip,” the statement continued.
The Presidency commended the Secretary-General of the United Nations and countries that “did not abide by this Israeli-American project. The officials in the Israeli government openly expressed that there would be no role for UNRWA, revealing the true motive behind this campaign.”
The Presidency emphasized that “the refugee issue is at the core of the Palestinian cause, with dozens of UN resolutions adopted on the matter. There is no solution to the Palestinian issue except for the return of refugees, in accordance with Resolution 194.”
The statement comes after a number of countries announced they would pause their funding to UNRWA after Israel provided evidence that several of its employees took part in Hamas’ October 7 massacre.
On Friday, the US announced it paused funding to UNRWA, and it was followed by Canada, Australia, the UK, and Finland.
On Saturday, Germany, Scotland, and the Netherlands announced that they would suspend funding for UNRWA. France followed suit on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Saturday evening called on UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini to resign his position, after Lazzarini wrote a post on X in which he called on the countries which froze their funding to UNRWA to resume donations.