Suspension
of Funding for UN Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine
Refugees
Shame on Canada for Actively Contributing to Starvation of Palestinians
Canada's
announcement on January 26 that it has "temporarily"
suspended funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) constitutes a heinous attempt
to
circumvent the ruling of the International Court of Justice
(ICJ)
issued on the same day. That
ruling requires all state parties to the UN Genocide Convention
to make
sure unfettered humanitarian aid reaches the Palestinians in
Gaza.
Canada
joined the United States, Australia, Italy, Britain, Finland,
Germany,
the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland in suspending
funding
following Israel's allegations that several UNRWA staff members
had
participated in the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation by Hamas in southern
Israel
on October 7, 2023. These countries together account for about
60 per
cent of the funding for UNRWA.
Canada's ambiguous position on the ICJ ruling according to
which it
supports the role of the ICJ and is concerned about the
humanitarian
crisis comes within the context of Canada's support for
"Israel's
right to self-defence" and its aim to wipe out Hamas. Like
Israel,
Canada, the U.S. and others claim they are upholding
international
humanitarian law but their deeds have smashed any such claims.
Canada's
stand on what Israel is doing to the Palestinians also smashes
its "responsibility to protect" doctrine on the basis of which
it
gave itself the right to intervene in the internal affairs of
various
countries to carry out regime change.
The immediate question is how the two positions can be
reconciled. The 250-word response of Canada to the ruling of the
ICJ
does not even address the order of provisional measures while
claiming
it is "deeply concerned about the scale of the humanitarian
crisis." It
doesn't say whether Canada will demand that the provisional
measures be
respected or if it even agrees with those measures. It simply
repeats
that Canada does not accept the premise of the case that Israel
is
committing genocide. It deliberately ignores that the ruling is
about
providing immediate relief to the people of Gaza and stopping
their
slaughter. The Government of Canada acts as if there were no
immediate
issue in the ICJ ruling even though everything about the
humanitarian
situation in Gaza has to do with immediacy.
Canada
erroneously
believes it can reconcile its contradictory claims in the
same
way
Israel the U.S., the UK and other accomplices of its genocidal
aim
think they can get away with what they are doing to the
Palestinian
people. Canada's position on the ICJ ruling is delivered with
the
intent to deceive so as to serve its hidden purpose. Its deeds
reveal
it to be an accomplice of Israel and its plans to wipe out the
Palestinians from Gaza, through starvation, famine and disease.
UNRWA
is the main organization delivering aid to all Palestinian
refugees.
Most if not all other aid agencies rely on its infrastructure.
By
cutting off funding for UNRWA under the hoax that it is the
civilian
arm of a terrorist organization and thus also terrorist, Canada
will
never be forgiven for its de
facto hindrance of the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Francis Boyle, U.S. human rights lawyer and professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, said, "Countries abruptly cutting off UNRWA funds are now in violation of Article 29(c) of the UN Genocide Convention: 'Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.'"
The
Israeli occupiers are impeding the delivery of food, water
and
medical supplies in their openly announced plans to eliminate
the
Palestinians from Gaza. As of January 31, at least 26,900 people
have
been killed in Gaza, including some 11,000 children and 7,500
women.
Another 65,949 have been injured, including at least 8,663
children,
6,237 women, while more than 8,000 people are missing. In the
occupied
West Bank, at least 370 people have been killed, including 99
children,
and more than 4,250 have been injured. Canada's
suspension of funding actively contributes to Israel's plan to
make sure the Palestinian people in Gaza do not get the food,
water and
medical supplies they
need when they face immediate famine, starvation and
disease.
To cut funding for UNRWA, the humanitarian agency which sustains and provides infrastructure for the entire population of Gaza and many other Palestinian refugee camps, including in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, which have become permanent since 1948 is a grave crime indeed. It will go down in the annals of history as a most diabolical method devised to help Israel accomplish its intentional genocide in Palestine.
Condemn Decision to Suspend Funding for the UN Humanitarian Agency!
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 8 - January 31, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54081.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca