Al-Natshe: Seizing the UNRWA Headquarters in Jerusalem is a Prelude to Liquidating the Refugee Issue

SadaNews - The Secretary General of the National Popular Conference for Jerusalem, Major General Bilal Al-Natshe, considered the Israeli occupation forces' seizure of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Jerusalem on Monday as a concrete step by the occupying state to liquidate the issue of refugees.

Al-Natshe said in a press statement on Tuesday: this arbitrary measure contradicts international will on one hand, and international law on the other, which grants the agency the right to continue its operations in the territories of its five regions, foremost of which is Palestine, to provide essential services to refugees, the most important of which are education and health, until a political agreement is reached regarding their issue that has persisted since 1948 to this day.

He emphasized that this action, which means the liquidation of the agency's existence in Jerusalem, comes within the framework of the comprehensive and ongoing Israeli assault for more than a year on the refugee camps in northern and central West Bank and the displacement of their residents, specifically the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams camps, where these camps were leveled to the ground after the majority of their buildings were demolished and their roads and infrastructure were destroyed, pointing out that the tragedy of displacement has been repeated again in these camps.

The Secretary General noted that the extensive attack carried out by the occupation forces against the UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem on Monday clearly indicates that Israel has taken control of the headquarters as a prelude to fully seize it under the pretext of not paying the taxes due to the occupying municipality.

He stressed that this excuse is flimsy and has no relation to the truth, as Israel made a decision about two years ago to eliminate the agency's presence in the occupied territories as part of its plan to liquidate the Palestinian issue as a whole, which is not considered an administrative measure but rather an advanced political step towards erasing the refugee issue, which is the basis of the conflict between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.

Al-Natshe pointed out that since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging an organized offensive and incitement campaign against UNRWA under the pretext of the involvement of its employees in the attack targeting settlements in southern Gaza Strip over two years ago, using this as a strong excuse to accuse the agency of sympathizing with Palestinians in their rejection of the injustice that has befallen them for the past 77 years, while our people and leadership extend their hands for peace, but the occupying state responds with military escalation aimed at displacing the Palestinians and uprooting them from what remains of their usurped homeland once again.

The Secretary General of the National Popular Conference for Jerusalem emphasized that the objective response to this systematic policy pursued by the extremist right ruling in Israel comes with an immediate action by the United States, as the main sponsor of Palestinian-Israeli peace agreements, which prohibits the occupying state from taking any unilateral steps that would preempt reaching political solutions regarding unresolved issues, foremost of which are the refugee issue and the right of return.

He regarded what is happening in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially in Jerusalem and the institutions it hosts, as part of the attack on the Palestinian presence in this city, which is undergoing the worst process of ethnic cleansing since 1967.

Al-Natshe stated that our Palestinian people will not kneel, will not raise a white flag, and will not submit to the status quo imposed by Israel on the ground; rather, they will confront that by all legal means available to them in courts and international platforms. He added that Israel raising its flag over the United Nations headquarters in Jerusalem does not grant it legitimacy in owning the place, questioning the credibility of the occupying state that claims that the control over the headquarters came for financial reasons.

He expressed full solidarity with the agency, which has never stopped providing its services to Palestinian refugees in the camps of the Jerusalem governorate, in its schools, health centers, and food distribution centers despite the scarcity of resources it faces.

Finally, he said: UNRWA will remain a living witness to the tragedy of a people uprooted from their homeland by the force of arms, bloodshed, and forced displacement, and the camps will remain the true symbol of the refugee issue, which will not disappear except with a just solution to their issue that guarantees their right to live with dignity in an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.