Israel Matzav

Israel considering sanctions against UN agency for illegal activity in Judea and Samaria

Israel is considering sanctions against the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs due to illegal activities in Judea and Samaria. Specifically, the office stands accused of performing illegal construction activity in the region.

As senior officials in Jerusalem put it, Israel wants to “reassess” the role in the West Bank of the agency, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The two options under consideration are limiting the issuing of visas to OCHA employees and rescinding work and travel permits to local residents who work for OCHA.

Over the past six months, there has been a major deterioration in relations between OCHA and the Israeli government, a senior Israeli source said. Israeli officials have been furious over the conduct of OCHA staff in the part of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and military control.

Known as Area C, this area comprises 55 percent of the West Bank and includes the Jewish settlements, IDF firing ranges and most of the Jordan Valley and Judean Desert. It is estimated that about 120,000 Palestinian live in Area C.

The senior Israeli official said OCHA had promoted several projects in Area C without Israeli approval including illegal construction. Senior officers from the office of Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, asked OCHA’s director in Israel to immediately halt the illegal activities, but nothing has changed.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, COGAT, oversees civilian activities in the West Bank.

Israeli ire over the issue is so great that Dangot ordered a halt to all OCHA’s illegal project work and instructed that a demolition order be issued for any illegal construction. Dangot also asked that the Foreign Ministry lodge a formal complaint at the United Nations in New York.

Read the whole thing. This needs to be taken care of before November, since if God forbid he is reelected, Obama would defend the UN's activity. But now, he cannot take that chance.

Labels: Judea and Samaria, United Nations

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:32 AM