UNRWA chief criticizes Israeli police’s seizure of agency’s Jerusalem assets

UNRWA chief criticizes Israeli police’s seizure of agency’s Jerusalem assets
——————————
The chief of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees denounced the Israeli authorities’ confiscation of assets from its east Jerusalem compound on Monday, which police told AFP was part of a debt-collection operation, Arab News reported.

With trucks and forklifts, the authorities took “furniture, IT equipment and other property,” and the compound’s United Nations flag was replaced with an Israeli one, the source mentions.

Israeli authorities have banned the agency from operating inside the country early this year.

Israeli police told AFP in a statement that the seizures were “carried out by the Jerusalem municipality as part of a debt-collection procedure,” relating it to the Arnona, an Israeli residence tax that covers municipal services.

Under a 1946 convention, the UN and its assets must not be taxed by host countries.

The compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem has been empty of UNRWA staff since January, when the law banning its operations took effect after a months-long battle over its work in the Gaza Strip.

Israel had accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas militants, and the legislation also forbids contact between the agency and Israeli officials.

Though the ban applies in east Jerusalem due to its annexation by Israel, the agency still operates in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.