Closed UNRWA schools must be reopened immediately, says International Development Committee Chair

Israel must immediately reopen UNRWA-run schools and restore access for Palestinian refugees to UNRWA services in the West Bank, the International Development Committee Chair has said.

The Chair of the Committee, Sarah Champion, has written to Foreign Secretary David Lammy, responding to reports that armed guards forced UNRWA into closing three schools operating across East Jerusalem and three within the Shu'fat refugee camp.

UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, runs a range of critical services for Palestinians across the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The agency says the closures will affect around 800 children, with no alternatives yet announced for them to continue their education.

In her letter, the Chair calls for:

• the immediate reopening of the UNRWA schools
• the freezing of the implementation of the anti-UNRWA Knesset laws, which violate Israel's obligations as a UN member state
• the reinstatement of access for UNRWA international staff to the Occupied Palestinian Territory
• the restoration of respect by Israel for UNRWA's privileges and immunities as a UN agency, as required by international law
• unhindered, continued access of Palestinian refugees to UNRWA services, including education and health, in the whole West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

“These closures represent simply the latest in a long line of actions intended to undermine the work of UNRWA across the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” she writes. “UNRWA also operates health centres across East Jerusalem that meet the needs of 40,000 citizens. We have no guarantees that these will not be the next targets of the Government of Israel.”

Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Committee, said:

“Access to education is a basic human right. Removing that right by force is not only traumatic for the children who will lose out on vital learning; it demonstrates that the Government of Israel appears prepared to commit serious breaches of international humanitarian law.

UNRWA is clear that their schools are inviolable premises of the United Nations. This latest provocation is just the latest in a string of actions to undermine the work of the agency. Will health centres be next?

I join UNRWA in calling for the immediate reopening of these schools and unhindered access to their services for Palestinian refugees. Will the Foreign Secretary set out how the Government is working to achieve this?”