The League of Arab States on Wednesday condemned statements by the Board of Peace regarding the Gaza Strip, in which it called for ending the role of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the territory, saying such a move “lacks any legal basis”.
In a statement issued by its Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories Department, the Arab League said it strongly condemned the remarks, describing them as political claims that “lack any legal or humanitarian basis”.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Board of Peace said in a statement that there was no place for UNRWA in what it called the “new Gaza”.
The board claimed it was seeking to end what it described as the “continued dependence on aid”, adding that Palestinians in Gaza “deserve more than that”.
The Board of Peace is one of the bodies overseeing Gaza’s transitional administration, a framework approved by the White House on 16 January alongside the Gaza Executive Board, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) (technocratic government), and the International Stabilisation Force (ISF).
The Arab League said the board’s statements amounted to “a direct attack on the historic and legal rights of Palestinian refugees” and were inconsistent with international law and United Nations resolutions.
It stressed that UNRWA was established under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 302 in 1949 and that its mandate is renewed periodically by the General Assembly. It added that the agency’s role cannot be terminated or its mandate reduced by such statements.
