Israel’s UNRWA Ban: What It Means for Gaza, the UN and the World

On Monday, despite warnings by the international community against such a step, Israel’s Knesset voted overwhelmingly to adopt two laws that effectively ban the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN agency that has served the needs of Palestinian refugees since 1949, from operating in Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories (West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem). Since Israel’s war on Gaza began more than a year ago, UNRWA has been the primary provider of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza, where 2 million people face catastrophic humanitarian conditions, including mass starvation and disease. Numerous governments from across the world, including the Biden administration, have warned that ending UNRWA operations would have far-reaching and disastrous humanitarian consequences, particularly in Gaza. 

To address the background to and implications of Israel’s UNRWA ban — for Palestinians, the wider region, and UN/humanitarian interventions worldwide — the Middle East Institute (MEI) and Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) are pleased to invite you to join a virtual panel discussion.  
 

Speakers

Roland Friedrich
Director of Affairs, West Bank, UNRWA

Mona Jebril
Research Fellow, University of Cambridge

Alexander Smith
Former Senior Advisor, USAID

Khaled Elgindy (Moderator)
Senior Fellow, Director of Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs, Middle East Institute

Lara Friedman (Moderator)
President, Foundation for Middle East Peace

Extended Speaker Biographies
 

Roland Friedrich has been working on conflict management, peacebuilding, mediation, and security sector governance and reform in the MENA region for more than 18 years. He currently serves as Deputy Director for the West Bank with UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East). From 2020 to 2023, Mr Friedrich served as Senior Peacebuilding Adviser and Director of Programmes at IDLO (International Development Law Organization) where he oversaw the organization’s global rule of law and access to justice portfolio including 19 country offices. From 2014 to 2020, Mr Friedrich served as Chief of Analysis (2017-2020) and Senior Political Officer (2014-2017) at UNSMIL (United Nations Support Mission in Libya). He was responsible for political-military affairs, security arrangements, armed groups engagement, reconciliation, security sector reform, and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR). For six years, Mr Friedrich was deeply involved in UN-led mediation efforts in Libya. From 2005 to 2013, Mr Friedrich was Head of Office for the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) in Palestine where he led a multi-million dollar security sector governance and reform programme. Mr Friedrich also worked as a policy analyst with the Middle East Conflict Management Programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London (2004-2005). He holds an MSc in Middle East Politics (School of Oriental and African Studies, London), an MA in Political Science, International Law, and Spanish (Bonn University), and an Executive MBA (University of Cambridge). Mr Friedrich has written extensively on conflict management, peacebuilding, and security sector governance and reform in the Arab region. He is a fluent Arabic and Spanish speaker and knows French reasonably well.

Mona Jebril is a Palestinian who lived in the Gaza Strip for more than 22 years. She is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, working on the Global Challenge Research Fund project: ‘R4HC- MENA’, which aims to build sustainable capacity, partnerships and research on health in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Palestine (see: https://r4hc-mena.org/). In 2017, Mona completed her PhD in Education from the University of Cambridge, as a Gates Scholar. Shortly after graduation, Mona was invited by the Centre for Science and Policy at Cambridge to join their Network of Evidence and Expertise. Previously, Mona studied for an MSc in Higher Education at the University of Oxford where she won the Said Foundation Second Prize for academic and personal achievement. Dr Jebril has significant experience as a teacher and trainer at state schools and as a lecturer at two of Gaza’s universities. She is also a co-founder of two centres and a scholarship programme in Gaza. Mona has produced four films from her PhD thesis. If you want to learn more about Mona, or watch her films, you are welcome to visit her personal website through this link: https://monajebril.wixsite.com/atthecrossroad

Alexander Smith is a lawyer with a background in global health, human rights, and international humanitarian law. He studied law and public health at Northeastern and Tufts and dedicated 23 years to health and human rights work, including in Afghanistan, Jordan, Sudan, West Africa, Southeast Asia, the Balkans, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Alex resigned from his Senior Advisor position with USAID after four years of service due to the agency’s policies, inaction, and silencing of speech about health conditions and violations of international law in Gaza. He has since been speaking out on the urgent need to prevent the crime of starvation in Gaza, on CNN, Al Jazeera, and multiple academic forums.

Khaled Elgindy is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute where he also directs MEI’s Program on Palestine and Israeli-Palestinian Affairs. He is the author of the newly-released book, Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump, published by Brookings Institution Press in April 2019. Elgindy previously served as a fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution from 2010 through 2018. Prior to arriving at Brookings, he served as an adviser to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah on permanent status negotiations with Israel from 2004 to 2009, and was a key participant in the Annapolis negotiations of 2007-08. Elgindy is also an adjunct instructor in Arab Studies at Georgetown University.Khaled’s writings have appeared in a wide range of publications, including The Christian Science Monitor, CNN.com, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, The National Interest, The Washington Quarterly, and others. He is frequently quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Politico, and other print media, and is a regular commentator on TV and radio, including Aljazeera, BBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, PBS Newshour and others. 

Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP). She is a leading authority on the Middle East, with particular expertise on U.S. foreign policy in the region, on Israel/Palestine, and on the way Middle East and Israel/Palestine-related issues play out in Congress and in U.S. domestic politics, policies, and legislation. Lara is also a preeminent subject-matter expert in the area of anti-Palestinian legislation and “lawfare,” including the weaponization and instrumentalization of the definition of and concerns about antisemitism. Lara’s research on lawfare- and antisemitism-related topics – which she makes available to the public – is widely cited and widely recognized as the authoritative data in the field. Lara is a former officer in the U.S. Foreign Service, with diplomatic postings in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis and Beirut. She also served previously as the Director of Policy and Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now. In addition to her work with FMEP, Lara is a non-resident fellow at the U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP). She holds a B.A. from the University of Arizona and a Master’s degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service; in addition to English, Lara speaks French, Arabic, Spanish, (weak) Italian, and muddles through in Hebrew.

(Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)