Caabu Press Release: Caabu welcomes UK announcement on UNRWA but it must do more than restore funding
19 July 2024
Caabu welcomes the restoration of UK funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as announced by the Foreign Secretary David Lammy today. The suspension of funding was a decision by the previous government that should never have been taken. Israel provided no evidence to back up its claims, but donor states took precipitant action rather than demanding to see proof of Israel’s charges.
It is also welcome that the government increased funding to UNRWA which is vital given the massive additional need. David Lammy pledged “£21 million to support its lifesaving work in Gaza and the provision of basic services in the region.” We urge the government to consider additional funding in the near future.
The British government also needs to defend UNRWA from dangerous Israeli attacks. Israel is threatening to close down UNRWA operations in Jerusalem and to designate it as a terrorist organisation. Such actions jeopardise the essential life-giving work that UNRWA and its staff carry out, not just in the occupied Palestinian territory, but in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. The government must also hold Israel accountable for its role in the killing of 197 UNRWA staff (as of 14 July) in Gaza since 7 October 2023. This is the highest number of United Nations fatalities ever recorded in a single conflict.
The attacks on UNRWA have also been facilitated by many organisations and politicians. They have colluded in this defunding of the largest humanitarian agency in Gaza at a time when Israel has used starvation as a weapon of war against 2.3 million Palestinian civilians. Commenting on this, Chris Doyle, Caabu Director, stressed that “the British government must stop treating Israel as a good faith actor, capable of providing valid evidence or investigating its own actions when its consistent record over decades is one of consistent violations of international law, concocting dangerous myths to facilitate its persecution and dispossession of Palestinians and utterly failing to investigate properly the actions of Israeli forces and settlers. Moreover, the government should not be engaging with organisations and bodies who continue to propagate such myths and distortions until they withdraw their dangerous allegations and demonstrate that they are prepared to accept Palestinians should enjoy equal rights and protections under international law.”
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Notes to editors:
- For more information or interviews contact Chris Doyle on +44 (0)7968 040281
