Future of Palestinian state at risk, warns UNRWA's Philippe Lazzarini amid fragile ceasefire concerns

Speaking to The National in Munich, head of UN agency said he plans to reactivate UNRWA's 'temporary' state as part of a shift to 'transition mode'

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The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has warned that the future for Palestinians is “extremely uncertain”, in terms of whether the ceasefire in Gaza will hold and what the enclave’s reconstruction and future administration will look like.

Speaking to The National at the Munich Security Conference, Philippe Lazzarini said that the future of a Palestinian state itself is at risk.

His remarks came at a time when Arab countries are working on a reconstruction plan and a long-term political solution to counter US President Donald Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians into Jordan and Egypt. The Arab plan is expected to be revealed in the coming weeks, and Mr Lazzarini predicted there would be a political process that “certainly will end up with a reconstruction conference”.

He said he plans to reactivate the “temporary” nature of UNRWA, as had been intended when it was established to aid Palestinian refugees who were displaced after Israel was created. The agency, Mr Lazzarini said, “should now shift gear into a transition mode, and it is time now that the temporary nature of the agency to be retrieved”.

“We have been temporary for 75 years, lasting temporary,” he said. “That should be over, and that is the reason why it is so important that UNRWA be part of any political process.”

However, UNRWA’s immediate focus is on the ceasefire in Gaza. “We don’t know if the ceasefire will hold, and this is a reason why all the attention has to be put on the consolidation of the ceasefire, to allow it to go from stage one, to stage two, to stage three,” Mr Lazzarini said.

Egyptian trucks carrying humanitarian aid supplies for Gaza wait at a border crossing. Menahem Kahana / AFP

“We definitely all hope that the ceasefire will hold. It is a very fragile ceasefire. We were very much relieved when we saw that the three hostages have been released, and also hundreds of Palestinian detainees.”

Since the start of the ceasefire on January 19, the number of aid lorries entering Gaza has increased by at least tenfold. This, Mr Lazzarini said, shows that “if the political will is there, we can bring aid at scale to the Gaza Strip”. The increased delivery of aid has stopped “a deepening of hunger, and has prevented a situation of famine that humanitarian community was extremely worried about”, he added.

Late last month, an Israeli law came into force that effectively banned UNRWA from operating in Israeli-occupied territories. Asked if the agency could still deliver for the Palestinians, Mr Lazzarini said: “What choice do we have? If UNRWA collapses, what is the alternative?

“Our operating environment is becoming more and more difficult, but Knesset bills do not prevent the agency from providing critical services in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”

If UNRWA ceased its operations, he added, “this would create a vacuum … that would mean that hundreds of thousands of girls and boys in Gaza and the West Bank would be deprived of education”.

Mr Lazzarini said the ban was “nothing less than a recipe for sowing seeds for more despair and for more extremism”. UNRWA schools and health centres continue to operate in the West Bank, and the agency’s staff have been providing services in Gaza since the ceasefire began. The agency has delivered food to more than 1.5 million people, and about 18,000 people visit UNRWA-run clinics each day.

In a demonstration of the value Palestinians place on education, more than 280,000 children have been registered to resume education, albeit remotely, at UNRWA-run schools since last month. However, the ban means that UNRWA no longer has any international staff in Jerusalem and that the agency cannot have any contact with Israeli authorities. “It is a no contact bill,” Mr Lazzarini said.

Asked if he had spoken to the US administration of President Donald Trump, Mr Lazzarini said: “I have reached out, but so far I have not had any contact.”

Given the reality in the Palestinian territories, Mr Lazzarini said that UNRWA “should shift into a transitional mode”.

Children leave a school in Balata camp east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Zain Jaafar / AFP

“We should be generally invested in a political process, and here UNRWA can become a real asset in being part of such a process, in building the capacity of Palestinian institutions,” he said. “At the end of the process, we have an alternative, we have a recipient which can take over these activities.”

Mr Lazzarini pointed out that UNRWA has a critical funding shortfall which has persisted since Israel last year accused some of its employees of taking part in the Hamas attacks, prompting many donors – including the US – to suspend funding. While the UK and Europe have resumed donations, and Arab states have continued to provide support, funding for UNRWA “is still hand to mouth”, Mr Lazzarini said.

“The funding remains an existential threat, and this is further compounded by the massive political attack,” he added. “Ultimately, the funding issue is a political issue, because if there is a will, the funding can be made available.”

Mr Lazzarini’s team is working “to bring the mandate of the agency within a political framework which would clearly delineate what UNRWA can deliver”. Besides providing education, health care and a social safety net, Mr Lazzarini sees UNRWA’s role as “contributing to building the capacity of future Palestinian institutions”. But he warned there was a “risk that there won’t be a Palestine”.

“There is a risk of the annexation of the West Bank, and it becomes what we keep hearing about: Judea-Samaria, part of Greater Israel,” he said. “That would, indeed, be the end of the aspiration of the Palestinians for self-determination. It would be the end of a two-state solution, and this is why we have to redouble our commitment to a political process”.

Mr Lazzarini called for serious efforts to devise a plan that does not involve the displacement of Palestinians. Ensuring they remain in their homeland is in the interests of the Palestinians, and being “part of the broader ambition to promote stability in the region”, he added.

“The international community should not accept a situation of forced displacement, which would amount to ethnic cleansing. The Palestinians have the right to live in their homeland, there is no reason for them to be pushed outside,” he said. “I believe neighbouring countries have made the case, but I also believe that the international community has to stand up to make sure that international law is not so blatantly disregarded again, as we have seen over the past 15 months.”