UNRWA faces an unprecedented crisis and the role of Philippe Lazzarini is at the center of the controversy over the future of the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees
Philippe LazzariniCommissioner General ofUnited Nations Agency for the rescue and occupation of Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), he will leave his assignment next March, at the end of the mandate. “Two mandates are sufficient,” he said, thus liquidating any hypothesis of extension of his leadership. But the budget of his years at the helm of the agency is far from neutral: under his direction the UNRWA has been hit by serious accusations of collusion with Hamas and progressive loss of international credibility.
According to the dossiers spread by Israeli security services, in the years in which Lazzarini He held the maximum charge was consolidated a systematic infiltration of the agency by Hamas and other radical organizations. They would not be of isolated episodes: teachers related to UNRWA were photographed in events in which the armed struggle was incited, while other officials had direct operational roles in the brigades of Hamas. Jerusalem has released names, photographs and details of employees accused of having participated in attacks or having provided logistical support to the militiamen. The accusations do not stop at the staff. Israel has long denounced the use of structures managed by the agency as the operational bases of the Palestinian militias. Schools, hospitals and warehouses would have been transformed into command centers, weapons or joints of underground tunnels. The Israeli army has documented cases of rockets launched by areas close to UN buildings and even arsenal discovered within school institutions. In 2014, during the operation Protective Edgemissiles hidden in a school a Gaza City: An episode that forced UNRWA to admit the presence of weapons, while declaring itself in the dark about the facts. One of the most delicate fronts concerns education. The school manuals distributed in the UNRWA schools have been accused of containing hostile references to Israel, of canceling it from the maps, of glorifying figures considered terrorist and to enhance the martyrdom. Israel, international research centers and even the American State Department They have repeatedly denounced the diffusion of content that have little to do with a neutral education. Lazzarini He tried to defend the agency, but the reforms remained partial and completely insufficient to reassure the main donors.
On the financial level, the management of the current Commissioner General He coincided with a period of profound crisis. To Gaza, Hamas exercises a capillary control over daily life, and theUNRWA It did not escape this pressure. According to Israel, the logistical and operational dependence of the agency on local authorities would have allowed the Islamist movement to condition activities and indirectly intercept part of international funds. In recent years United States, Germany, Canada And United Kingdom They suspended the funding on several occasions, asking for independent checks on the real destination of resources. The problem, they underline several observers, is that the leadership of Lazzarini has not managed to guarantee that neutrality that constitutes the raison d’etre of an organism of United Nations. Indeed, under his guide, theUNRWA He has seen any diffidence and suspicions grow. His name has often been associated with an agency unable to counter infiltrations and preserve his political and military independence. The disputes are part of a broader frame of trusted crisis. Already in 2019, an independent report had denounced cases of nepotism and favoritism at the top of the agency, forcing the previous commissioner to resign Pierre Krähenbühl. Lazzarini, called to reconstruct credibility, ended up finding himself at the center of even heavier accusations, with the image of the agency further compromised. Yet, the paradox remains: despite the accusations of collusion with Hamas, UNRWA remains an essential pillar for the survival of millions of Palestinians. About Gaza about 80% The population depends on the aid provided by the agency, which manages schools, clinics, food programs and social assistance. For the Palestinians it represents an anchor of salvation in a context of siege, for Israel an institution that perpetuates refugee status and feeds hostility against the Jewish state. The positions of western governments remain divided. Washington And some European countries ask for radical reforms, while others fear that a weakening of the agency may precipitate Gaza in an even more serious humanitarian collapse, pushing the population into Hamas’ arms. The future ofUNRWA It is today more uncertain than ever. The accusations of complicity with Hamas have eroded international trust and the stability of funding is undermined. Lazzarini He leaves a worn agency, suspended between the need to provide assistance and the inability to guarantee neutrality. His exit from the scene does not cancel the questions: how to prevent an organism born to help become an integral part of a conflict that has lasted for over seventy years? Under his guide, theUNRWA He saw criticism consolidates and widen the fractures with Israel and with part of the international community. Lazzarini He greets after two disastrous mandates, but leaves behind a more fragile and more controversial institution than he was on his arrival.
