The United Nations Relief and Works Agency accused Israel of taking over the agency\u2019s buildings in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem in a statement published on Thursday.<\/p>\n
UNRWA\u2019s West Bank director Roland Friedrich said that \u201cpersonnel associated with the Jerusalem Municipality have in recent days entered UNRWA<\/a> facilities without authorization, including the school compound, health center, and community services office.\u201d<\/p>\n It was alleged that the personnel forcibly entered the premises by breaking locks, and that contractors working on behalf of the municipality had begun carrying out work at the sites, in what the agency alleged was a violation of international law.<\/p>\n Asked about the allegations, the Jerusalem Municipality<\/a> told The Jerusalem Post that \u201cThese are not UNRWA properties but privately owned properties for which the municipality has signed a usage agreement.<\/p>\n According to the owners of those properties, UNRWA itself unlawfully took control of the properties and did not make payments throughout this period.\u201d<\/p>\n It added: \u201cThe municipality intends to open educational institutions at the site for the benefit of residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n Friedrich told The Post that, as a UN agency, UNRWA schools and health facilities in the Shuafat Camp are \u201cprotected by the privileges and immunities of the United Nations<\/a> under international law\u201d and that the \u201cpremises are inviolable and immune from any form of legal process or interference, in accordance with the terms of the Convention of Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations to which the State of Israel is a signatory.\u201d<\/p>\n In comments that conflicted with the municipality\u2019s account, Friedrich said that the land was only partially privately owned and partially under Jordanian custodianship and that UNRWA has had a public-use and possession allocation of it for its premises.<\/p>\n He added that over the years, UNRWA had invested millions of dollars provided by international donors into the construction, maintenance, and development of three schools and the health center. Israel\u2019s closure of the sites, he said, meant 550 Palestinian children had been deprived of education and 20,000 patients had their access to health services restricted.<\/p>\n