Norway is “requesting the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations to facilitate humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population, delivered by international organizations, including the UN, and states. The international community cannot accept that the UN, international humanitarian organizations, and states continue to face systematic obstacles when working in Palestine and delivering humanitarian assistance to Palestinians under occupation,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, as quoted on Nov. 19 in the New Arab. There is a draft resolution in the UN General Assembly to protect and maintain full operations in Gaza UNRWA, and the resolution has been gaining wider support. A vote on this resolution is expected in December.
On Oct. 28 the Israeli Knesset voted 92-10 to declare that UNRWA was a terrorist organization and banned it from Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. UNRWA was given 90 days to leave the occupied territories. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide accused the Knesset act of undermining “the stability of the entire Middle East,” and warned that it would have “severe consequences for millions of civilians already living in the most dire of circumstances.”
International law recognizes UN facilities as having full immunity from any outside interference, even during military conflicts, confirmed under Article 105 in the UN Charter. A UN Board of Inquiry found that “direct and intentional strikes carried out by Israel on UNRWA premises in Gaza amounted to an egregious breach of the inviolability of the UN premises and a failure to accord the property and assets of the organization immunity from any form of interference,” reported The Guardian.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Nov. 13, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that Israel has destroyed two-thirds of UNRWA’s facilities and has killed 243 UNRWA employees. An estimated 1.9 million Palestinians depend upon UNRWA, and, as Lazzarini said on Nov. 18, “There is no ‘Plan B.’” No other organization can replace UNRWA.
