Entire generation in Gaza would lose education if UNRWA collapses, UN says
Al Jazeera
UNRWA chief warns new Israeli law threatens education for 660,000 Gaza students and risks extremism and marginalisation.
An entire generation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would “be denied the right to education” if the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) collapses in the enclave under new Israeli legislation, the head of the agency has warned.
The Israeli parliament last week adopted two controversial bills banning UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory, closing its offices in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
UNRWA’s chief Philippe Lazzarini said that implementation of the legislation, which is due to take effect in late January, “will have catastrophic consequences”.
“Glaringly absent from discussions about Gaza without UNRWA, is education,” Lazzarini told a UN General Assembly committee on Wednesday.
“In the absence of a capable public administration or state, only UNRWA can deliver education to more than 660,000 girls and boys across Gaza. In the absence of UNRWA, an entire generation will be denied the right to education,” he said, warning that this would sow “the seeds for marginalisation and extremism”.
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