Arab League: Israel’s ban of UNRWA a “dangerous precedent”

Arab league Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Tuesday that Israel's decision to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem is a "dangerous precedent" at the international level. Israel did not establish UNRWA to ban its work, but rather the refugee agency was established by a UN resolution in 1949, therefore, it is the UN General Assembly's responsibility to maintain it, he said in a statement. Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the ban of the agency, which provides education and health services to more than 2.5 million refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, adding that the decision is the latest episode of an Israeli scheme for years to eliminate the agency's role, undermine its international reputation and dry up funding for it. He called on UN Security Council member nations to counter "this dangerous decision," warning that humanitarian work in Gaza will completely collapse if UNRWA were absent or banned. Source: Jordan News Agency