Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 15th May. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on Tuesday said that a fresh arson attempt was made on the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestine refugees in the east ed Jerusalem office, the second incident in 5 days.
Philippe Lazzarini said in a social media post on Tuesday that “This time it was an “arson attempt by Israeli children and young people on UNRWA”.
“This has got to stop,” he said.
Mr. Lazzarini said Israeli residents had set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA headquarters when the staff from several UN agencies were in the compound.
“While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas,” he said.
He noted that UNRWA headquarters has on its grounds a petrol and diesel station for the agency’s fleet of cars.
Lazzarini said that during last week’s incident a crowd “accompanied by armed men were witnessed outside the compound chanting “burn down the United Nations”, and that the office director and other staff had helped to extinguish the fire, as Israeli authorities took “a while before they turned up”.
According to the UNRWA, the displaced families returned to Khan Younis to seek shelter and safety in UNRWA schools, but found torched classrooms, blown out walls and rubble.
Mr. Lazzarini noted that over the past 2 months, Israeli extremists have been staging protests outside the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem called into action by an elected member of the Jerusalem municipality. Last week, the protest became violent when demonstrators threw stones at UN staff and at the buildings of the compound.
He said the UN staff have been subjected to harassment and intimidation, the compound has been seriously vandalized and damaged and, on several occasions, “Israeli extremists threatened staff with guns”.
“It is the responsibility of the State of Israel as an occupying power to ensure that United Nations personnel and facilities are protected at all times,” he said via social media following last week’s arson attempt.
“The perpetrators of these attacks must be investigated and those responsible must be held accountable. Anything less will set a new dangerous standard,” he added.
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