- JERUSALEM -- The recent upsurge
in violence and the threat of a Palestinian civil war in Gaza has prompted
the United Nations to order senior staff to leave the area amid fears for
their safety.
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- About 20 UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) personnel,
as well as representatives from its human rights division and the office
of the UN Special Co-ordinator for Middle East, Terje Roed Larsen, are
being pulled out. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan approved the move on
the advice of the UN security management team in Gaza.
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- It comes after UNRWA workers ñ who carry out emergency
aid projects, such as distributing food and medical supplies ñ reported
coming under fire from Israeli soldiers, or being caught in the crossfire
in clashes with Palestinian militants, six times in the past few weeks.
-
- The move coincides with warnings from UNRWA staff that
Gaza is facing food shortages because of the difficulties in getting aid
past Israeli security checkpoints.
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- It also comes against a backdrop of clashes between rival
Palestinian factions in an apparent power struggle between Palestinian
Authority leader Yasser Arafat and pro-reform security minister Mohammed
Dahlan . Forces loyal to the two have clashed in the past week ahead of
a planned Israeli withdrawal from the territory next year. A group believed
to support Dahlan kidnapped the pro-Arafat Gaza police chief, Ghazi al-Jabali,
demanding that he be sacked for alleged corruption. Arafat obliged but
then appointed a relative, Moussa Arafat, to a senior position in charge
of security, prompting riots.
-
- However, UN insiders say that, while the intra-Palestinian
clashes are a factor, the main reason for the pull-out is the perceived
risk posed by Israelís military operations in Beit Hanoun in northern
Gaza.
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- Emergency talks last week between UN Countries Director
Nigel Roberts and Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz failed to secure
safe passage for UN staff. They came after a UNWRA food convoy reported
coming under fire from an Israeli armoured vehicle in Beit Hanoun.
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- In a letter sent to Annan last week, UN Commissioner
General for Gaza Peter Hansen warned that staff were at ìhigh riskî
while carrying out ìnormal operationsî. ìDespite intense
liaison with the IDF [the Israeli army] these incidents are becoming more
frequent and more intense,î he wrote. ìThe apparent lack of
concern by the IDF for the safety and security of UN staff means that the
normal reliance on security from the government controlling the area cannot
be guaranteed.î
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- It is the first time the UN has ordered its staff out
of Gaza for more than two years, when the intifada was at its height.
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- The order, which will be effective for at least two months
until the security situation is reassessed, applies mainly to administrative
staff appointed from outside Israel and will not affect those involved
in the day-to-day distribution of aid in Gaza. UN insiders say that re-locating
staff to Jerusalem ñ with the added burden of putting them up in
expensive hotels ñ could affect the efficiency of various programmes.
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- The Israeli army moved into Beit Hanoun three weeks ago
after two Israelis, one a child, were killed in the town of Sderot by home-made
Qassam rockets fired by militants less than a mile away in Gaza. On Friday
a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead in Beit Hanoun by militants
after his family reportedly prevented them firing such rockets from their
land.
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- Tightened Israeli security measures are preventing UNRWA
food deliveries to Gaza , where more than 600,000 Palestinians ñ
half the population ñ depend on emergency aid. Thousands of tonnes
of food are sitting in storage because the Israeli authorities at the Karni
goods terminal between Israel and Gaza insist they must pass through an
X-ray machine which cannot accommodate the large food containers. A compromise
under which the food is put into smaller containers has proved inadequate.
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- UNRWA says malnutrition amongst Gazaís children
has tripled since the intifada began in October 2000, while the average
annual income has fallen from about £1250 to about £300.
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