UNRWA: OBSTACLE
TO PEACE

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, commonly known as UNRWA, is a UN agency devoted exclusively to the provision of services to Palestinians displaced as a result of Israel’s 1948 War of Independence and their descendants. Although originally intended to be a temporary aid agency, its mandate has been repeatedly renewed. UNRWA’s main areas of operation include education, health care and social services. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by donations, mostly from governments, which account for over 92% of financial contributions to the Agency. 

Today, UNRWA provides benefits to approximately 5.9 million people designated as refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. According to UNRWA, the organization operates 702 schools with over 526,000 students and 19,877 educational staff, out of approximately 30,000 total staff.

One of UNRWA’s main stated objectives is to provide basic education to Palestinian youth, to enable them to obtain necessary skills and to impart key values such as dignity and tolerance. However, teachers and staff employed by UNRWA have systematically promoted terrorism and radical antisemitic ideology running counter to any prospect of peace.

We urge donor states to demand that UNRWA implement its stated “Zero Tolerance” policy for employees who incite racism or murder, by immediately terminating such employees. UNRWA must further conduct a thorough investigation into its facilities and put an immediate stop to all antisemitic and terrorist-inciting activities.