JERUSALEM, Sunday, January 20, 2019 (WAFA) – Spokesman for the Palestinian Refugee and Works Agency (UNRWA), Sami Meshasha, said on Sunday the Agency has not received any official notice from Israeli authorities regarding reports of an Israeli plan to shut down UNRWA-run schools in occupied Jerusalem.

The statement came after Israeli media published reports saying Israeli officials are set to revoke permits for UNRWA-run schools in East Jerusalem starting from next academic year.

“UNRWA’s existence in Jerusalem is not a gift from Israel,” Meshasha said in a press statement, adding: “There are bilateral agreements binding on Israel to respect the Agency‘s installations, jurisdiction and immunity in Jerusalem. In addition, Israel is a party to the 1946 Refugee Convention, and such attempts are in violation of this Convention.”

He said the Agency had been in contact for some time with several parties regarding the renewal of the mandate of the Agency, which typically begins by the end of this year.

According to UNRWA, the agency runs seven schools in two refugee camps that are located within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries, which serve about 3,000 students enrolled.

Commenting on the reported Israeli plan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said that the decision of the Israeli occupation authorities to close UNRWA schools in occupied Jerusalem “aims at ethnically cleansing the Palestinian citizens living in Shu‘fat refugee camp.”

“The failure of the international community, particularly the Security Council, to implement the resolutions of the international legitimacy on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and to hold the occupation authorities accountable for their grave violations of international law, human rights principles and the Geneva Conventions has encouraged the occupation authorities to begin the most dangerous episode of the liquidation of the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem,” the Ministry said in a statement.

M.N