The Israeli occupation authorities asked the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to vacate its headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, east of Jerusalem, within a month due to “using the land without the approval of the Israel Lands Department.”
The Israeli Ynet news website said on Thursday: “The Israel Lands Authority informed UNRWA that the agency must leave the building it is using in East Jerusalem and pay tens of millions of shekels (a dollar equals 3.70 shekels) to Israel as back rent for the years it used the property.”
UNRWA’s headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood is considered the agency’s main headquarters.
The website stated that the legal advisor to the Israel Lands Administration, lawyer Nitsa Teitelbaum, wrote in a letter to UNRWA yesterday, Wednesday: “According to our investigation and the current information available to us, you are detaining 36 dunams of the Israel Lands Administration’s property in Jerusalem, without our consent.”
Teitelbaum added in his letter: “The State of Israel confiscated the land in 2006, and UNRWA built buildings on it without a permit (…) You are required to stop any use of the land, and to demolish what was built on it illegally.”
The website said the agency was given 30 days to vacate the building. The Land Authority also demanded an amount of 27 million and 125 thousand and 280 shekels (7.2 million US dollars) in late rent, in addition to paying annual use fees until the actual use stops.
In recent months, right-wing Israelis have organized a series of protests in front of the agency’s headquarters to demand its closure.
Israeli extremists also recently set fire to land surrounding the headquarters.
Yesterday, Wednesday, the Israeli Knesset approved, in a preliminary reading, a draft law abolishing the immunity and privileges granted to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
Three additional readings must still be voted on in favor of the draft law for it to become effective, as part of what Palestinian, UN and international bodies say is an Israeli campaign to dismantle UNRWA and liquidate the refugee issue.
The Knesset stated in a statement on Wednesday: “Among the immunities and privileges that UNRWA enjoys are: immunity from being subject to trial, immunity for archives and offices, exemption or reduction from tax and property tax, exemption from import or export bans, exemption from income tax, and others.”
Israel accuses UNRWA employees of contributing to the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attacks on October 7th, and that “the agency’s education system supports terrorism and hatred.”
On that day, Hamas launched attacks on military bases and settlements near Gaza. In response to “the occupation’s daily crimes against the Palestinian people and their sanctities, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque,” according to the movement.
UNRWA, which has its headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, denies the validity of Israel’s accusations against it, and confirms that it adheres to neutrality and focuses exclusively on supporting refugees.
The Palestinians’ need for UNRWA’s services is increasing in light of the war launched by Israel against Gaza since the seventh of last October, which has left more than 117,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid famine and massive destruction.
UNRWA was established by a United Nations resolution in 1949, and was mandated to provide assistance and protection to refugees in its five areas of operations: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, until a just solution to their issue is reached.
