Re your editorial (The Guardian view on the future of Gaza: Trump is threatening already frail hopes, 28 January), I have witnessed the professionalism and dedication of Unrwa staff, the majority of whom are Palestinian, in all five fields of their operations (Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria).
Since 7 October 2023, at least 243 of the 13,000 Unrwa staff working in Gaza have lost their lives, which is the highest ever in a single crisis. Unrwa services in health, education, welfare, food aid, microfinance and social services are critical for Palestinian refugees and these services have been mandated by the UN general assembly.
For Israel to unilaterally ban Unrwa operations in the occupied Palestinian territories in a period of unparalleled deprivation and social need, following 15 months of total siege and constant bombardment in Gaza and relentless military and settler aggression in the West Bank, is immoral, illegal and inhumane.
Israel’s targeting of UN staff and installations should be more than adequate grounds for it to be unseated from the UN. It has also repeatedly defied UN resolutions as well as the July 2024 ruling of the international court of justice that declared Israel’s occupation of the Gaza strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, unlawful.
The protection of UN staff and Unrwa services in the occupied territories, and the integrity of the rules-based order, demands concerted multilateral action that ensures Israeli compliance with international law.
Stephen McCloskey
Director, Centre for Global Education
Donald Trump’s threat to “clear out that whole thing” is, as your editorial states, “damaging”; it dehumanises Palestinians and buoys Israel’s extreme right, but this repugnant bigot is only taking advantage of a mess created by other politicians. What leader other than Benjamin Netanyahu would be given a blank cheque by western leaders, to act with impunity and carry out what many consider to be genocide against Palestinians, using weapons supplied by the west?
The west had given Netanyahu the green light by doing nothing about Israel’s aggression in the West Bank – despite warnings from the UN’s human rights commissioner, Volker Türk, who in June 2023 called on it to comply with international law after it had launched deadly airstrikes with helicopter gunships on Jenin refugee camp.
If Trump could insist on a ceasefire, why couldn’t Joe Biden threaten an end to arms supplies and economic sanctions last May. And, furthermore, why couldn’t Keir Starmer and his fellow and equally spineless western leaders put pressure on the president to do so?
Instead, we had a prime minister “hoping” for peace in the Middle East, while sending arms to Israel. By all means criticise Trump, but the blame for this awful situation lies elsewhere, and much of it close to home.
Bernie Evans
Liverpool
