Netherlands feared “great human suffering” after UNRWA funding pause: memo | Israel-Palestine conflict news

Days after the Netherlands suspended funding to the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees, Dutch authorities expressed fears that stopping support for too long could lead to “great human suffering” and regional destabilization, they reveal. recently released documents.

In a memo written after the Netherlands joined more than a dozen countries in suspending funding to UNRWA following Israeli allegations of links to Hamas, Foreign Ministry officials stressed the need for the UN agency to continue your job.

“Humanitarian assistance and basic services provided by UNRWA to Gaza and the entire region must be maintained at this stage of the conflict. Other organizations are not adequately equipped for this purpose, including logistical capabilities. Further regional destabilization due to the loss of UNRWA capabilities must be avoided,” officials from the ministry’s human rights department wrote in the memo to Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot on 2 February.

Bruins Slot, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Appeal party, expressed agreement with his colleagues in a handwritten note.

“Agreed! It affects an entire region that is already unstable,” she wrote in the memo.

Outlining a myriad of competing priorities, officials warned that Amsterdam faced a “precarious” balance in deciding whether to fund UNRWA.

“The balance between the desired political signal, the speed of UN investigations, humanitarian needs, the absence of further destabilization in the region, the continuation of balanced contacts with Israel and the Palestinians and the reallocation of funds is very precarious”, states the memo. .

“An excessively long delay or suspension of already committed support could lead to serious disruptions to UNWRA’s operational capabilities, resulting in considerably great human suffering,” the memo continued, to which Bruins Slot added a handwritten note expressing its agreement.

“Furthermore, high humanitarian needs could lead to social unrest and regional escalation, which also poses a risk to Israel’s security. It is also politically relevant to take into account the International Court of Justice ruling on adequate humanitarian aid.”

Al Jazeera obtained the memo, which has not been previously published, through a freedom of information request to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Despite concerns raised at higher levels of the Dutch government, the Netherlands has still not resumed funding to UNRWA five months after announcing a pause in response to Israeli allegations that some agency staff participated in the Hamas attacks on 7 October. in southern Israel.

An investigation led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna concluded last month that Israel had not provided evidence to support its claims of UNRWA involvement in the attack.

At least half of the 16 countries that suspended funding in response to Israel’s demands, including Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden, have since reinstated their support.

When contacted for comment, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred Al Jazeera to a letter it sent to Parliament last month detailing its position on UNRWA funding.

In the letter, the ministry stated that it had already provided its annual funding to UNRWA in January, but that future requests would be considered based on the agency’s implementation of Colonna’s recommendations to strengthen its neutrality and the outcome of an upcoming report from the Office of UN Home Affairs. Supervision Services (OIOS).

The OIOS said in an update on its investigation last month that it was investigating 14 UNRWA staff members over their alleged links to the October 7 attacks, after abandoning investigations into five others due to a lack of evidence.

In the February memo, authorities recommended that funding be “reconsidered in due course” based on the outcome of the OIOS report, the establishment of terms of reference for investigating risk management at UNRWA and an “action plan, including the UNRWA’s commitment to (re)examining personnel”.

Created in 1949, UNRWA employs around 30,000 people in the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria to provide essential services including food, education and health care.

The UN agency announced last week that it would have to suspend food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where the Israeli military is conducting a ground offensive and airstrikes, due to a lack of supplies and security risks.