PLO "condemns and rejects the dangerous agreement" between the UN and the US which stipulates that US funding to UNRWA cannot be used to support terrorism
Headline: “Sit-in strikes in front of the UNRWA offices in Lebanon against the framework agreement with the American administration – Mun’imAwad: We are only teaching our children our history, what fell in the deal of the century will not pass in the framework agreement”
“In response to the [PLO Department of Refugee Affairs affiliated] Palestinian National Committees’ call, the Palestinian and Lebanese national forces… participated in a sit-in strike in front of the UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) regional directors’ offices to condemn and reject the framework agreement for cooperation between UNRWA and the US (the agreement includes a condition that US funding to UNRWA not be used to support terrorism -Ed.)…
At the end of the sit-in strike, an identical memorandum was given to the regional directors, which said: ‘The framework agreement for cooperation between UNRWA and the US is political par excellence, and it contradicts the human right to express one’s political opinion and defend it. This agreement’s adherence to neutrality – while relying on the UN resolutions to support this excuse – ignored all the UN resolutions connected to the Palestinian cause starting from [UN Resolutions] 181, 194, and 242 (see notes below -Ed.), which guarantee the Palestinian people’s right of return, and up until [UN] Resolution 3237 that recognizes the PLO as a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Neutrality must not be imposed on those who demand their elementary human rights, which are liberation and struggle, nor [can one] compare one who struggles for the sake of his rights with one who commits terror.’ …
During the sit-in strike in front of the UNRWA headquarters in the Sidon area, [PLO] Secretary of the Popular Committees in Lebanon Mun’im Awad gave [the official PA daily] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida an exclusive statement, in which he explained the danger of the so-called ‘framework agreement’ and the steps to fight it.
Awad said: ‘We launched a sit-in strike in front of [the offices of the UNRWA] regional directors in all areas of Lebanon (the north, Beirut, Beqaa, Sidon, and Tyre) and at the same time, at 10:30 a.m. The headline of these sit-in strikes was opposition to the framework agreement that was signed between UNRWA Commissioner-General [Philippe Lazzarini] and the American administration.’ He added: ‘This agreement contradicts the foundations of UNRWA, because it was founded according to a decision of the [UN] General Assembly, and the commissioner-general cannot carry out any agreement with any side, American or not American.’
Awad expressed his appreciation for the European Union’s (EU) opposition to this agreement and said that the EU recognizes the dangers in this agreement.
He continued: ‘What fell in the deal of the century (i.e., former US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan) will not pass in the framework agreement. We will not agree to conditional aid, and this agreement places conditions on renewing the aid to UNRWA and imposes neutrality. We, as refugees, cannot be neutral, especially because our land is occupied, and all the laws in this world give us the right to take back our homeland by all legitimate means, including armed struggle.’
Awad noted: ‘The PLO Popular Committees launched sit-in strikes in all areas of Lebanon because the partners in this agreement want to interfere in the curricula, on the claim that the host state in the homeland (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) is Israel, while the state actually is Palestine, which is represented by the legal national [PA] government. Neither UNRWA, the American administration, nor any other body has the right to impose the history that they want to teach to our children; we will teach our children our history. This land is our land, and we will preserve our existence until we return to it.’
Awad reviewed the effects of this agreement, as all the UNRWA employees – starting from the commissioner-general down to the most junior clerk – will become employees of the American administration through its [US] State Department. They demand monthly, periodic, and bi-annual reports on all the employees, their political activities and the like, and this means that the employees are currently being monitored on all social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter), which constitutes a violation of human rights…
Awad noted that in addition to all of this, according to the framework agreement between UNRWA and the American administration, whoever was affiliated with the Palestinian Liberation Army (i.e., the PLO’s military wing) is not eligible for UNRWA services. He added: ‘The name of this army was chosen with great care by the signatories, the American administration and its intelligence services, and they know well that we all were affiliated with this army and it was our honor to fight in its ranks against those who occupied our land, abused our people, and made them flee to all ends of the earth.’”
UN Security Council Resolution 242