The UN Palestinian relief agency has a vital role to play in Gaza’s reconstruction even though it wasn’t consulted on a nascent US peace plan for the territory, its head told AFP Thursday.
UNRWA, the main humanitarian agency for Palestinians, supplied healthcare, welfare and education services in Gaza before Israel launched its devastating assaults on the territory in retaliation for Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
“UNRWA is present in Gaza with 12,000 staff right now. On a daily basis, against all odds, our staff continue to provide primary health,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in an interview on the sidelines of high-level UN meetings in New York.
“UNRWA is certainly the one who has the best expertise and workforce when it comes to primary health and to education.”
Lazzarini said that while he had not seen the substance of the mooted US plan for Gaza, a 21-point blueprint for a ceasefire and reconstruction of the devastated strip, UNRWA was a “key asset for the international community.”
“The most difficult thing today is to reach the ceasefire. This is what we need. After that, there are a number of plans being on the table to consolidate (a) ceasefire,” he said.
“You have also, a week ago, member states having endorsed the New York Declaration, which is also a road map leading not only to the reconstruction but also to a future two-state solution.”
The text, adopted by 142 countries in favor with 10 against — including Israel and key ally the United States — clearly condemns Hamas and demands it surrender its weapons.
It also seeks to breathe new life into the two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
A diplomatic source told AFP that the US plan for Gaza envisages a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of hostages held there, an Israeli withdrawal as well as an influx of humanitarian aid.
– ‘We are an asset’ –
On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas told the UN General Assembly meeting, via a video message following a US travel ban,that a reformed Palestinian Authority was ready to step in and govern Gaza in the wake of any ceasefire.
“These are important commitments. We are talking about reform. This is exactly what is needed,” Lazzarini told AFP, adding UNWRA was an asset that could make such reforms succeed.
“We can also help to build future capacity and empowerment of Palestinian institutions when it comes to education or primary health,” he said.
Lazzarini insisted that even though Israel boycotts his organization and bans its officials from any contact with UNRWA, the agency would inevitably be part of administering post-war Gaza.
“We have a reservoir of teachers, and I really believe that on the day (of a ceasefire) it should be our common priority to bring back the hundreds of thousands of children… into an education system if we want to avoid sowing the seeds of more violence.”
Lazzarini is scathing of the US- and Israeli-backed effort to supply aid to Gaza, calling the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation “a death trap” and an “abomination.”
“Since this foundation started in Gaza to replace the broader UN response, that’s also when hunger started to spread, starvation started to deepen, to the extent that we had to declare famine,” he said.
Israeli lawmakers passed legislation against UNRWA’s work over accusations that it had provided cover for Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip — claims the UN and many donor governments dispute.
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