Board of Peace met with UNRWA behind the scenes despite saying it has no Gaza role, agency's ex-chief says

The Board of Peace has met multiple times with UNRWA officials behind the scenes, even as the US-created board publicly says the UN agency for Palestinians has no place in post-war Gaza, the agency’s former head told the Associated Press.

Philippe Lazzarini, who led UNRWA until earlier this year, said members of the Palestinian technocratic committee that will eventually govern Gaza want to work with the agency. Another UN official shared minutes from meetings where UNRWA and the committee discussed collaborating on plans for Gaza.

A Board of Peace official confirmed that board members had met multiple times with UNRWA officials. “UNRWA’s days are over,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, though its programmes “may persist if they are serving Gazans well.”

Two senior UN officials confirmed at least three meetings between UNRWA officials and the Palestinian committee this year, most recently this month — two during Lazzarini’s tenure. A readout of an April meeting, obtained by the AP, says the committee stated UNRWA could lead efforts to reconstruct refugee camps, noting: “this is also a highly political issue.”

Shortly before the end of his tenure, Lazzarini said he spoke to Ali Shaath, the former Palestinian Authority deputy minister who leads the committee: “Basically, he said, ‘I don’t know how I can succeed without you.’” An internal UN description of a January 26 meeting in Cairo, held without UNRWA, said Shaath praised the agency and showed “a clear intention to see it back on track.” The Tony Blair Institute, a Board of Peace partner, also asked for UNRWA’s help.

At a pledging conference on June 30, the agency’s acting chief Christian Saunders called UNRWA “vital” to the board and committee’s efforts. The board official countered that the meetings focused on understanding UNRWA’s operations in order to build programmes that are “far more efficient and accountable,” adding that employees “will remain if they pass vetting and are delivering on their mandate and not advancing ideology or Hamas interests.”

Almost a year since the ceasefire, there has been no reconstruction in Gaza. Israel still prevents the entry of the committee the Board of Peace chose to eventually govern the strip, saying Hamas must first disarm — leaving UNRWA, with around 11,000 Palestinian employees in Gaza conducting an average of 14,000 medical appointments daily, as the territory’s largest aid provider.

“It’s an absurd contradiction,” Lazzarini said: the Board of Peace says UNRWA is not wanted, while UN member countries “expect it to deliver.”

Sources

• Associated Press: Board of Peace has met with UNRWA despite saying it has no Gaza role, agency’s ex-chief says
• The Times of Israel: Board of Peace says ‘UNRWA has no place in the new Gaza,’ sparking outcry from PA
• Geneva Solutions: UNRWA’s future hinges on Gaza peace plan implementation, outgoing chief says