Israeli authorities provoked another confrontation with the United Nations by taking control of a UN facility in East Jerusalem and promising to permanently cease its operations. Police entered a training center run by UNRWA — the agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees. Law enforcement ordered the staff to leave the premises and took control of the facility. The center is known as the Kalandia Training Center.
Police were accompanied by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who repeated long-standing criticism of the agency. The Israeli government claims that UNRWA “was infiltrated by Hamas members,” some of whom participated in the attacks on October 7. Ben-Gvir was filmed sitting at a desk that, according to him, was previously used by the director of the training center. “UNRWA is no more,” he stated. — “Terrorists must be expelled from everywhere in the State of Israel.”
UNRWA terminated contracts with nine employees accused of involvement in the October 7 attacks but stated that Israel had not provided evidence to support its allegations of large-scale Hamas infiltration. In its statement, UNRWA “unequivocally condemned” Israel’s seizure of the facility and noted that “the entry of armed security forces into a United Nations facility without permission or consent from the UN is unacceptable.” The center was established over 70 years ago and provided vocational training to thousands of Palestinians.
International reaction and Israel’s plans
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Dr. Ramez Alakbarov, stated that the center should be “inviolable and protected from any interference.” He called on the Israeli government to “vacate the facility” and fulfill its “obligations under international law.”
The UN insists that the facility remains a UN premises, but Israel has already announced plans to convert it into a military complex that will include an army museum, a recruitment center, and an office for the Minister of Defense. The Jerusalem municipality claims that the facility never legally belonged to UNRWA. According to them, it will now be converted into an educational and community complex for local residents, including a school, a mosque, medical centers, and sports facilities.
Oren Marmorstein, a spokesman for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated: “UNRWA has no ownership rights to this facility and attempted to prevent the opening of this school. Ultimately, UNRWA and the UN chose to oppose this project. They choose politics over children.”
Legal status of UN facilities
According to the UN Convention of 1946, the organization’s premises are considered “inviolable,” while its property and assets are protected from “search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation, and any other form of interference.” There is no clear precedent in UN history where a member state has seized an active UN facility against its position for its own purposes. In January, Israeli authorities demolished the headquarters complex of UNRWA in Sheikh Jarrah, in occupied East Jerusalem.
Source: Sky News
