Jerusalem mayor threatens to close UN Palestinian refugee agency

Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement that a "detailed plan to remove UNRWA from Jerusalem and replace its services with municipal services" was being arranged.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that such actions would affect its humanitarian operations and installations in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

The agency runs health and education services for Palestinian refugees at the Shuafat camp, which is home to around 24,000 people.

UNRWA has come under pressure from Israel and the US, with the latter recently cut funding to the organisation.

The Israeli government has backed the move which has been condemned by Palestinians and the international community.

Barkat again backed President Donald Trump's move to halt funding to the agency.

"The US decision has created a rare opportunity to replace UNRWA's services with services of the Jerusalem Municipality," Barkat said.

"We are putting an end to the lie of the 'Palestinian refugee problem' and the attempts at creating a false sovereignty within a sovereignty," he added.

The issue of Palestinian refugees - along with the status of Jerusalem - has long been a major sticking point in peace efforts.

More than 750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

They and their descendants are now classified as refugees who fall under UNRWA's mandate.

Palestinian leaders continue to call for at least some of them to be allowed to return to their former homes now inside Israel under any peace deal.

Israel says Palestinians must give up the so-called right of return and that allowing descendants of refugees to inherit their status only perpetuates the problem instead of solving it.

Around 5 million registered Palestinians refugees are eligible for UNRWA services in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the blockaded Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Barkat said that under his plan all UNRWA schools in Palestinian-majority east Jerusalem will be closed by the end of the current school year, while health centres will likewise be shut down.

The municipality will also lobby Israeli political leaders and press them to exercise their "authority to remove UNRWA (headquarters) from Israel's sovereign territory" in Jerusalem.

"In parallel, the city will work to expropriate the area for public purposes," he said.

Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem as its capital, something considered illegal under international law.

On Friday, the UNRWA said it was "determined to continue to carrying out" its services in east Jerusalem and criticised Barkat's plan.

"Such messaging challenges the core principles of impartial and independent humanitarian action and does not reflect the robust and structured dialogue and interaction that UNRWA and the State of Israel have traditionally maintained," the agency said.