The agency’s head, Philippe Lazzarini, said that the Israeli forces and the personnel of the local Jerusalem authority “entered strongly” at the Kalandia training center and ordered their immediate evacuation.
“At least 350 students and 30 employees were present and affected. Tear gas and sound pumps were shot,” said Mr. Lazzarini.
Development occurs after the prohibition of UNRWA’s activities in Israel entered into force, in line with the laws approved in October by the Israeli Knést.
At least 350 students and 30 employees were present at the center at that time.
The Israeli police accompanied by municipal staff also visited several other Unrwa schools in eastern Jerusalem, demanding its closure.
Incidents have interrupted learning for approximately 250 students attending three schools, along with students now locked outside the training center.
In an interview with UN news Abdelmonem Makki On Wednesday, Roland Friedrich, director of Affairs of UNRWA in the West Bank, spoke extensively about the incidents and explained that the agency is committed to continuing its services.
These include education for 50,000 children, medical care for 500,000 patients in occupied West Bank and emergency education programs for 200,000 children in Gaza.
This interview has been edited for clarity and duration.
UN news: Israeli forces and personnel of the municipality of Jerusalem entered Tuesday with several educational facilities of UNRWA in Eastern Jerusalem. Could you share with us what happened exactly?
Roland Friedrich: Israeli security forces, accompanied by the municipality staff, entered our educational training center in Kaland and ordered that it be closed. This vocational training center provides training to more than 350 vulnerable Palestinian young people from all the West Bank, and is in what Israel considers the sovereign territory of the State of Israel. According to international law, it is occupied territory.
After about three hours of discussions, the Israeli security forces and the municipal representatives left, and we could resume education, but this was the first time that an educational installation in Jerusalem was admitted strongly by the Israeli security forces.
And at the same time, in the morning, the employees of the Israeli government made visits to three schools in the east Jerusalem and threatened to close them, asking for additional information, which was another violation of privileges and immunity of UNRWA.
Roland Friedrich Director of Affairs of UNRWA, Bank, during an interview with the UN news.
UN News: What was the declared reason for these school closures in Israel?
Roland Friedrich: On January 30, the (legislation of the Knéset Banning Unrwa) entered into force. There are six schools, three inside the barrier, three in the refugee camp of the Shu’fat camp on the Palestinian side of the barrier.
There are two health centers, one in the ancient city of Jerusalem and the other in the refugee camp of the Shu’fat camp, the rest of the vocational training center in Kalandia. And finally, we have our headquarters in the sheikh Jarrah. When the bills entered into force, we continue to deliver our services to patients and children. We also make garbage collection in the Shu’fat refugee field, and these basic services continue at the moment.
With respect to our headquarters in East Jerusalem, we are asking the staff not to work from there. In the last 12 months, we have seen repeated aggressions, attacks, intimidation, vandalization, and after these bills were formally adopted, we saw another increase in incidents.
UN news: What does this mean for Israel’s international obligations?
Roland Friedrich: These laws influence Israel’s obligations as a member state. The letter has a very clear disposition about what is expected. Israel is part of the General Convention on privileges and immunities of the United Nations, which provides, of course, the obligation to protect UN facilities and ensure that privileges and immunity are respected.
This is extremely problematic both in terms of what international law has to say, as well as with respect to our work in the field. Another impact of these laws has been the impediment to directly coordinate with the bearers of Israeli duty and particularly with the Israeli army. That means that at this time, we cannot talk to them, we cannot distrust, we cannot raise problems regarding our facilities and we can no longer address access problems directly.
It is even more problematic because we now have an unprecedented situation of forced displacement in northern Bank, with more than 40,000 displaced people due to the operations of Israeli security forces and highly militarized since January 21. And that has never happened in the history of Bank since the occupation of Israel that began in 1967.
UN news: What is the next step for the agency in response to these measures, given the fact that the agency has a clear mandate of the UN General Assembly?
Roland Friedrich: We have a very clear mandate, and we are committed to continue delivering our services in the most effective way possible, as long as possible and whenever possible, because we have an obligation here.
To give an example, in the West Bank, we executed 96 schools with more than 50,000 students. Indeed this year, the number of students who are recorded to go to the UNRWA schools in the West Bank have increased due to the socio -economic deterioration of the situation in the field.
We provide primary health care to half a million patients. We execute 43 health centers and a hospital on the ground. We provide cash assistance and help services to more than 200,000 vulnerable Palestinians, part of that in close coordination with other UN agencies.
We have the mandate to continue doing this, and we are committed to doing it all the time we can.
UN news: UNRWA emphasizes the need to preserve children’s access to education and protect UN facilities. Does the agency have any alternative plan to allow these children to continue their education if this incident occurs again?
Roland Friedrich: I think we have to differentiate between East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank because the situation there is slightly different in the problems related to the schools we direct and the places where we direct these schools.
There are very, very few alternatives, if any. And certainly there is no alternative to the Kalandia training center where we provide this vocational training to the 350 apprentices that come from the West Bank. That is the training installation that UNRWA has been executing since the 1950s, and there is no alternative.
When we observe the situation in the West Bank due to the ongoing Israeli operation, it has a very direct impact on the ability of children to access education due to displacement in northern Bank and due to ongoing operations.
There are 13 schools in four refugee fields that have not operated since January 21, which means approximately 5,000 children who now do not have access to education. We try to provide alternative means of learning, but this is clearly an unprecedented displacement situation.
It is not easy to communicate with all children and their families. Of course, they are dislocated and traumatized, and we are very concerned that there is no clear end in this operation that allows us to reopen schools and get the children where they belong. And this would be in a safe space, in our school.
UN news: Beyond the immediate impact on children and staff involved in such incidents, what are the broader implications in education and long -term perspectives for children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Roland Friedrich: In the OPT (occupied Palestinian territory) in general, UNRWA has long been the second major education provider, and we do it according to the UN values, in line with UNESCO standards. We have a curriculum oriented to the tolerance of very robust human rights, probably unique in the region.
In the Gaza Strip, for example, we used to provide education for more than 300,000 children. Now, there are 600,000 children who have been out of education for more than a year and a half, deeply traumatized, living in misery.
And everyone should have the interest of ensuring that these children have access to education, quality education as quickly as possible. We are committed to doing this as much as possible. We have started the emergency education program in Gaza, and now we are launching it, with more than 200,000 children registered in these emergency education programs in Gaza in the future.
When it comes to the West Bank, we have 50,000 children in our schools, mainly of poor environments, living in areas of conflict, in areas where there is a lot of poverty, particularly the refugee fields. And we continue to provide those services, and we will do it as long as possible.