BICOM

What happened? Israel’s Channel 12 News reports that the plan to find an alternative to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was discussed during a visit to Switzerland by Israel’s Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz.

• Katz met with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and Swiss President Ueli Maurer yesterday.
• During the meetings Katz stressed the problems of UNRWA, arguing it perpetuates refugee status, the conflict, and the Palestinian demand for a “right of return”. Katz has reportedly instructed the Israeli Foreign Ministry to draft a document outlining alternatives to UNRWA’s services.
• On Tuesday the Arab League’s assistant secretary general for Palestinian and occupied Arab lands affairs, Dr Saeed Abu Ali, held an emergency meeting in Cairo on the issue of UNRWA. The Palestinian delegation presented a plan to the Arab states to help get their support for renewing the UNRWA’s mandate when the UN votes in November.

Context: UNRWA, which was founded in 1949, shortly after the end of the first Arab-Israeli conflict, has been mired in controversy recently over accusations of corruption against top officials.

• As a result it is suffering a funding crisis, with a number of countries including Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland withholding their payments to the UN body.
• Many Israelis say the agency perpetuates the refugee status of Palestinians and argue that its definition of who constitutes a Palestinian refugee is too broad.
• Nevertheless, it provides crucial services to Palestinian refugees under its remit.

Key figures:

• According to UNRWA, 5,442,947 Palestinian refugees are eligible for UNRWA services.
• 552,000 are in Syria, 469,555 are in Lebanon, 2,206,736 are in Jordan, 828,328 are in the West Bank, and 1,386,455 are in the Gaza Strip.
• The US, which is the largest donor, scrapped all funding in 2018. In 2017 it provided UNRWA with $364m, or 30 per cent of its funding.
• In 2018, the UK gave $92,754,569 to UNRWA.

Looking ahead: Katz’s desire to discuss alternatives illustrates that Israel’s government, while no fan of UNRWA, is currently in a situation where it can’t live with or without the agency. Both sides, Israel and the Arab states, will likely spend the next few months trying to gather as much support for their respective plans for Palestinian refugees before the UN is due to schedule a vote on extending UNRWA’s mandate in mid-November.