Jordan Condemns Knesset Bill on UNRWA Designation
CrossFireArabia- July 23, 2024
Jordan Monday, condemned the decision of the Israeli Knesset to classify the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as a terrorist organisation according to the Petra news agency.
The decision is an “attempt to kill the agency, assassinate it politically and target its symbolism, which affirms the right of Palestinian refugees to return and compensation under the international law,” a Foreign Ministry statement empahsized.
Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Sufyan Qudah, said: “The ongoing Israeli allegations and measures targeting UNRWA and aiming to kill it and cancel its pivotal and basic role in providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people under its UN mandate represent a blatant violation of international law and Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.”
Qudah noted the UN Agency’s role in providing “vital” services to Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operations, especially in Gaza, which is suffering an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe as a result of the ongoing Israeli war since 7 October.
He urged the international community to continue providing political and financial support to UNRWA, adding that the Agency “cannot be dispensed with or replaced” until the Palestinian issue is resolved based on the two-state solution by establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state along the lines of June 4, 1967.
Meanwhile Secretary-General of the PLO’s Executive Committee Hussein Al-Sheikh termed the Knesset’s decision as a “disregard for the international community and its international organizations.”
“We affirm that the Israeli occupation is the ugliest form of terrorism practiced daily against the Palestinian people,” he said in a statement as reported in Anadolu.
The Knesset passed three bills to shut down the UNRWA and deem it as a “terrorist” organization. The bills will require two more readings to become effective.
