Pożar spowodował znaczne zniszczenia i podjęto decyzję o zamknięciu placówki w okupowanej wschodniej Jerozolimie. UNRWA (Agencja ONZ ds. Palestyńskich uchodźców) została założona w 1949 r. po utworzeniu państwa Izrael i późniejszej wojnie, w celu zapewnienia opieki zdrowotnej, żywności i edukacji uchodźcom palestyńskim. Z jej usług korzysta 5,9 miliona ludzi. Zatrudnia około 30 000 Palestyńczyków, z czego 13 000 to głównie nauczyciele w Gazie.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has temporarily closed its East Jerusalem headquarters after weeks of attacks.
“This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the Unrwa headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem,” the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, tweeted, lamenting that it was the second attack on the compound within days.
“A crowd accompanied by armed men were witnessed outside the compound chanting ‘Burn down the United Nations’.”
Staff from the Unrwa and other UN agencies were on the compound, which has petrol and diesel stations for a fleet of UN cars.
“While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas,” Lazzarini said, adding that Unrwa staff had put out the fire.
The attack came after two months of “Israeli extremists staging protests outside the Unrwa compound”, he said. One protest this week “became violent when demonstrators threw stones at UN staff and at the buildings of the compound”.
In recent months, hundreds of Israeli settlers and rightwing activists have protested by blocking the entrances of the UN agency and calling for its closure.
Thursday’s arson attempts marked “an outrageous development”, Lazzarini said. He added: “Once again, the lives of UN staff were at a serious risk. In light of this second appalling incident in less than a week, I have taken the decision to close down our compound until proper security is restored.”
The Unrwa chief said: “Over the past months, UN staff have regularly been subjected to harassment and intimidation. Our compound has been seriously vandalised and damaged. On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our staff with guns.”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/may/09/unrwa-jerusalem-hq-closed-after-israeli-extremist-arson-attack