dinsdag 22 juli 2014

Wederom raketten gevonden in UNRWA school Gazastrook

Opnieuw zijn wapens aangetroffen in een UNRWA school. Dit roept de vraag op in hoeveel andere UNRWA faciliteiten wapens zijn opgeslagen. Het is bekend dat UNRWA in Gaza onder de plak zit van Hamas en veel UNRWA medewerkers zelf lid zijn van of sympathiseren met Hamas. Het onderwijs is sterk anti-Israel gekleurd en er wordt opgeroepen tot de gewapende strijd om het hele land te ‘bevrijden’. Toch wordt zij internationaal als neutrale VN organisatie gezien. Misschien dat deze vondsten sommigen de ogen kunnen openen.

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Once again, rockets found in UNRWA school

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ceasefire-efforts-gather-pace-as-idf-death-toll-reaches-25/

For the second time in less than a week, rockets are found in a school in Gaza operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the body says.

“Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip,” the organization says in a statement issued Tuesday. “As soon as the rockets were discovered, UNRWA staff were withdrawn from the premises, and so we are unable to confirm the precise number of rockets. The school is situated between two other UNRWA schools that currently each accommodate 1,500 internally displaced persons.”

Palestinians at an UNRWA school after fleeing their homes following an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014. (Photo credit: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

As it did the last time around when missiles were found in a school it operates, UNRWA says it “strongly and unequivocally condemns the group or groups responsible for this flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law.”

UNRWA, the UN agency charged with overseeing humanitarian efforts in Gaza, says it immediately “informed the relevant parties and is pursuing all possible measures for the removal of the objects in order to preserve the safety and security of the school.” The organization again pledged to launch a “comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident.”

Israeli officials reacted furiously to the discovery. “How many more schools will have to be abused by Hamas missile squads before the international community will intervene,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor tells The Times of Israel. “How many times can it turn its head the other way and pretend that it just doesn’t see?

– Raphael Ahren

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UN agency handed rockets back to Hamas, Israel says

http://www.timesofisrael.com/un-agency-handed-rockets-back-to-hamas-israel-says/

UNRWA says it gave 20 missiles found in Gaza school to ‘local authorities’ that are under the ‘government of national consensus in Ramallah’

BY RAPHAEL AHREN July 20, 2014, 2:37 pm

A United Nations agency that last week found rockets in a Gaza school operating under its auspices has handed that weaponry over to Hamas, Israeli officials said Sunday, accusing the organization of actively helping the terrorist organization potentially attack Israeli civilians.

A different senior official said UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, charged with overseeing humanitarian efforts in Gaza, has been suffering from “battered-wife syndrome” for years and currently “attempts to ingratiate itself with Hamas.”

A spokesperson for UNRWA said the organization gave the rockets to “local authorities,” which answer to the Hamas-backed unity government led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. UNRWA pledged to fully investigate the incident once the fighting stops and keep all relevant parties informed, but refused to release any photos of the weapons.

“According to longstanding UN practice in UN humanitarian operations worldwide, incidents involving unexploded ordnance that could endanger beneficiaries and staff are referred to the local authorities,” UNRWA’s director of advocacy and strategic communications, Christopher Gunness, told The Times of Israel Sunday.

“Immediately after the discovery of the rockets, UNRWA proactively informed the relevant parties and successfully took all necessary measures for the removal of the objects in order to preserve the safety and security of the school. Local authorities fall under the government of national consensus in Ramallah. They pledged to pass a message to all parties not to violate UNRWA neutrality.”

A Western diplomat familiar with the incident said there is “absolutely no evidence” that UNRWA handed the rockets to Hamas. Rather, the diplomat suggested, the authorities who collected the rockets are under the direct authority of the Palestinian unity government, “which Hamas has left and which many in Hamas are openly hostile to. The key point is that the weapons were handed over to people who are not answerable to Hamas,” the diplomat said, referring to the fact that the unity government, not Hamas, is officially the ruling power in Gaza.

On Wednesday, UNRWA officials found some 20 missiles in a vacant school. A day later it released a statement strongly condemning “the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations. This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law,” the statement read.

UNRWA immediately convened an inquiry to investigate the incident, Gunness said. “All existing evidence will be handed over by UNRWA to the investigation, which can commence as soon as hostilities in Gaza are over.”

Israel has requested the UN release photos of the rockets. Officials plan to disseminate these images to bolster its assertion that Hamas is hiding missiles in schools, diplomatic sources said Friday.

But UNRWA is currently refusing to disclose any photos, arguing that “any photographic material” is evidence needed for UNRWA’s evidence. “We will keep relevant players informed about the investigation,” Gunness said.

UNRWA has “strong, established procedures to maintain the neutrality of all its premises, including a strict no-weapons policy and routine inspections of its installations, to ensure they are only used for humanitarian purposes,” he added.

In Jerusalem, such assertions are rejected, even ridiculed. “Time and again, over the years, UNRWA is being abused by gunmen from different terrorist factions who are using UN facilities to stockpile weapons, to fire rockets from, to steal UNRWA humanitarian equipment and to cause damage and fire in UNRWA’s hangars,” a senior Foreign Ministry official told The Times of Israel.

“Against all evidence, UNRWA refuses to acknowledge reality and pathetically attempts to ingratiate itself with Hamas, pretending that nothing serious has happened,” the senior official said. “This is a classic case of beaten-wife syndrome, which we have been witnessing for years from UNRWA. The people of Gaza, and indeed taxpayers from countries who contributive to UNRWA’s budget — including Israel — deserve better.”

Israel plans to raise this issue with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is expected to arrive in Israel on Tuesday.