This week’s special episode of MEMO in Conversation features an in-depth discussion with Dr Lex Takkenberg about the recent decision by Israel’s western allies to suspend funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
This controversial move comes at a perilous time as a humanitarian catastrophe unfolds in Gaza due to Israel’s military aggression.
To analyze the context, consequences and complexities around this funding cut and discuss the history of UNRWA, we speak to Takkenberg who has extensive experience working in various roles within UNRWA.
He helps unpack key issues related to the rights of Palestinian refugees under international law and why their plight remains unresolved more than 70 years after the formation of the UN agency set up to support them.
We explore the allegations prompting the funding cuts as well as the devastating impact the measures will have on desperately needed aid programs.
The discussion provides insight into Israel’s decades- long hostility towards UNRWA and why the agency serves a vital symbolic purpose for advocating for the rights of Palestine refugees on the global stage.
This timely interview sheds light on an unfolding crisis threatening stability in an already volatile region.
Dr Lex Takkenberg is a Dutch national, who currently serves as senior adviser with Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) and is a non-resident professor at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs.
Dr Takkenberg worked with UNRWA from 1989 until late 2019, most recently as the first Chief of its Ethics Office.
Prior to that, he held a range of other positions with the UN body, including as General Counsel, Director of Operations, and (Deputy) Field Director in Gaza and Syria. Before joining UNRWA, he was the Legal Officer of the Dutch Refugee Council for six years.
Middle East Monitor / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
USA, France, Britain, Germany and Sweden now deliberately causing the fascist Hunger Games in Gaza Strip?
Lies and propaganda for the dumb sheep,
Since Israel has no defense against the charges of genocide by the ICJ, it is working and has to try to discredit the whole UN. It will not work. Zionists are the People of the Lie.
Had there been so many tunnels Gaza would have collapsed in its own weight. Only id10ts would belief these terrorists. Look up King David Hotel bombing and you’ll find out who the world’s first terrorists are. Blessed be the oppressed.
Nicholas Pelham reported in the journal of Palestine studies, Vol 41, No.4, July 2012 that Israel’s network of tunnels under Gaza was first discovered in 1983, years before the creation of Hamas!