MALAIKA MAHLATSI | Cutting aid to Palestine with catastrophic consequences

A week ago, the International Court ofJustice (ICJ) handed down its provisional ruling on the SA v Israel case.

Earlier in themonth, SA brought the case before the ICJ, arguing that the state of Israel is engaging in genocidal acts in Palestine. The ICJ, in its ruling, sided with SA, contending that there is a prima facie case of genocide against Israel.

The court further ordered that Israel take all measures within its powers to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Within days of the ruling being announced, several countries in the West, who have historically been allies of Israel, including the US, Canada, Australia, the UK and several countries within the European Union, took the decision to suspend funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The basis for this decision is an allegation by Israel that some employees of the agency aided Hamas to plan and execute the attack on Israel on October 7. This attack, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,300 Israelis, set in motion the ongoing war against Palestinians, with the death toll at a mind-numbing 28,000.

The UNRWA is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. The agency was established in 1949 to deal with the issue of Palestinians who had been displaced during the Nakba.

The Nakba, also known as the catastrophe, was the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that set parameters for the occupation of Palestine by the newly established Israeli state. It led to thedisplacement of hundreds ofthousands of Palestinians –and continues today as many more are persecuted and displaced throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

There are more than 5-million Palestinian refugees registered with the UNRWA, a number that is certainly going to increase due to the ongoing war. The UNRWA has played an instrumental role in facilitating emergency aid into Palestine under the most difficult circumstances.

UNRWA’s budget is set by the UN General Assembly and derives almost entirely from voluntary contributions by UN member states. The biggest donors are the US and the European Commission, with the latter contributing roughly 60% of the funds received by the agency.

Germany is the biggest individual donor, with the UK and US following closely. The other contributors outside Europe and the US include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Japan.

SA is also a contributor, though it donates less than $1,000,000 (about R18,820m) annually. The suspension of funding to the UNRWA by the West is going to have catastrophic consequences at a time when Palestinians need it most.

The Gaza Strip, once the world’s largest open-air prison, has been reduced to rubble, with homes, hospitals and schools razed to their foundations. The UN has warned that Gaza is facing a famine and a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

The actions of the Western allies of Israel have gone beyond complicity in the genocide, which is in violation of the ICJ ruling. These actions are now in direct violation of the Genocide Convention.

They are intended to deliberately inflict on Palestinians conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. This collective punishment of Palestinian people is cruel beyond measure. Given that international law allows for prosecution on the grounds of complicity, it may be time for SA to think about pursuing criminal charges against Israel’s allies.