in the Middle East, UNRWA victim of increasingly violent attacks

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, located in East Jerusalem, announced Thursday that it was temporarily closing its doors.

UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem temporarily closes its doors “until security is restored”. Decision taken Thursday, May 9 by the director of the UN agency, after two fires caused in the evening near the UN agency for Palestinian refugees located in the Sheikh Jarrah district. Since October 7, intimidation has increased, but this week the violence escalated.

It was two days ago. On his phone, Jonathan Fowler, communications director, shows us these images : a surly crowd in front of the UNRWA headquarters where he works. “The noise we hear is the stones falling on the roof of our guard post,” comments Jonathan Fowler. The unleashed demonstrators met in front of the large blue gate which protects the agency. Behind, the projectiles are still there : “There, we have stones that are a good ten centimeters wide, which must weigh a kilo. People threw stones, broke the entrance door for pedestrians, people threw sticks at us, describes Jonathan Fowler. There were a lot of young people, but among the demonstrators there were also armed men, civilians carrying machine guns. That’s something we hadn’t really seen before. We wondered what might happen next time.”

“Destruction of our infrastructure”

A demonstration of force which took place under the eyes of the police, and initiated by the deputy mayor of West Jerusalem, Aryeh King, an elected far-right, denounces UNRWA. For several months these demonstrators, settlers, have been intimidating the staff by throwing paint and shouting slogans. : “Down with Unrwa”, “Get out”but there is a real rise in power : “We see this a bit as manifestations of a broader campaign to dismantle UNRWA. This campaign against us, we see it in the Gaza Strip, we see it in the West Bank. We have problems with the destruction of our infrastructure…”

“Another problem we encounter, adds Jonathan Fowler, is that our colleagues who come from the West Bank, who do not have the Jerusalem identity card, cannot come. So, since October, we have been operating in a situation a bit like during Covid. People are working from home, they can’t come. It’s sure that it’s very complicated to function correctly. We must not forget that our main job is to provide aid to Palestinian refugees.”

Despite this campaign of harassment and intimidation, Jonathan Fowler and his colleagues will not give up. “We are not giving up. We have a mandate from the United Nations General Assembly, recalls Jonathan Fowler. We are here and we are not leaving, that’s clear and clear.”