ROMA (ITALPRESS) – UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, warned the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, that the amendment of a law to block the operations of the United Nations Agency for the relief and occupation of Palestinians (Unrwa) and the seizure of the agency complex in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, violate Israel’s international obligations and could trigger a legal dispute.
Guterres, in a letter presented on 8 January, expressed “serious concerns” for the amendments adopted by Knesset on 29 December prohibiting the provision of basic services and utilities to Unrwa, including “electricity and water services” and “telecommunications and banking services”, writes Haaretz.
Guterres recalled that the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations establishes that the properties and assets of the United Nations are “violable”. The Secretary-General also condemned the entry of Israel on 8 December last, as a whole of the Unrwa in Sheikh Jarrah, in East Jerusalem, stating that the authorities seized goods, removed the flag of the United Nations and placed in its place an Israeli flag, defining such actions “violations of the inviolability of such premises”. The claims for unpaid municipal taxes are not applicable, he added, since the United Nations is exempt. Guterres called on Israel to repeal the law, return the goods seized and stop further action against Unrwa.
– Photo IPA Agenc –
(ITALPRESS).
