(Jun. 4, 2026 \/ JNS)\n <\/p>\n
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) says it is operating in Judea and Samaria (which it calls the West Bank) assisting 33,000 displaced Palestinian refugees.<\/p>\n
UNRWA attributes the mass displacement of Palestinians primarily to what it terms ongoing Israel Defense Forces military operations, heavy bombardment, forced evacuation orders and \u201csettler violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel has often disputed the methodology and attribution behind U.N.-reported statistics<\/a>.<\/p>\n In an email exchange with JNS, UNRWA\u2019s media department says it has set up 12 temporary clinics to ensure continued access to healthcare and is distributing supplies and shelters to displaced families.<\/p>\n Furthermore, UNRWA says it has been working to ensure that the education of Palestinian children is not further disrupted, including by running remote learning programs.<\/p>\n However, some leading Israeli officials and experts on UNRWA question the legitimacy of the group\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n Dr. Einat Wilf, who has written extensively on UNRWA\u2019s perpetuation of the permanent \u201crefugee problem,\u201d told JNS there is zero reason for UNRWA to be operating in Judea and Samaria under the Palestinian Authority.<\/p>\n Wilf, who is the founder of the Oz Party, which is running in the upcoming Knesset elections, explained that the result is two parallel systems. On the one hand, she said, there is the P.A., which on paper is supposed to represent a constructive vision of Palestinian self-determination. On the other hand, you have UNRWA, which sustains a vision in which there should be no Jewish state.<\/p>\n She noted that hundreds of thousands of people living in Judea and Samaria, born in places such as Ramallah, are still defined as Palestinian refugees.<\/p>\n \u201cThat status is tied to the idea of a \u2018right of return,\u2019 which ultimately means erasing Israel. So UNRWA is not just providing services, it is maintaining that framework,\u201d she argued.<\/p>\n She said UNRWA should not be in charge of schooling if that education is indoctrination. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter that they provide services\u2014the real question is what they are educating people for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Wilf added that UNRWA paints a picture of ongoing hardship and need, emphasizing how poor and desperate Palestinians are. But according to this view, that narrative is being used to sustain a broader political struggle rather than resolve it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe continued demand for funding is tied to maintaining this framework, one that keeps the conflict ongoing and centered on opposition to the Jewish state, rather than moving toward a different outcome,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, who was a co-sponsor of the Oct. 28, 2024, legislation banning UNRWA from operating within pre-1967 Israel (including Jerusalem) and severing all official ties with it, told JNS that UNRWA is not a humanitarian agency, but rather a terrorist organization wearing a humanitarian mask. The law took effect<\/a> on Jan. 30, 2025.<\/p>\n Haskel called UNRWA\u2019s ongoing operations in Judea and Samaria \u201cdestructive and malicious,\u201d proving that it has zero interest in solving the problems of the Palestinians, but rather in perpetuating them.<\/p>\n \u201cFor years, it has actively covered up terrorist activities, while shielding and abetting terror. This organization has long outlived its relevance, and its mandate should have expired decades ago,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Haskel added that every civilized nation should immediately follow suit in banning cooperation with the organization.<\/p>\n Under humanitarian guise<\/p>\n Likud MK Dan Illouz, who co-sponsored the 2024 legislation, told JNS that instead of providing aid, UNRWA\u2019s true mission has always been to perpetuate the conflict, eternalize refugee status and incite hatred<\/a> of Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have exposed the truth about UNRWA and its deep ties to terror. … The era of Israel tolerating a terror-linked entity inside our borders under a humanitarian guise is officially over,\u201d Illouz said.<\/p>\n David Bedein, director of the Nahum Bedein Center for Near East Policy Research, who has produced video features and films on UNRWA and its school system since 1987, told JNS that, despite assurances from the ambassadors of the European Union that the current P.A.\/UNRWA curriculum would be vetted by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), this did not happen.<\/p>\n According to Bedein, P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas publicly claimed that a delegation had been sent to UNESCO to review the curriculum. Bedein said that UNESCO later confirmed that no such delegation ever arrived.<\/p>\n He notes that UNRWA has not been able to provide donor countries with an accounting for more than $1 billion in donations, other than stating that 58% is allocated to \u201ceducation.\u201d<\/p>\n After 38 years of monitoring UNRWA, Bedein said: \u201cThe pattern is that funds from donor nations effectively disappear from clear accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n On May 28, The Washington Free Beacon reported that a U.S. federal investigation into UNRWA staff will soon encompass at least 1,500 UNRWA-linked individuals suspected of terror ties. The media outlet says<\/a> the U.S. could soon designate the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).<\/p>\n