Israel is delaying new visas for its staff, says UN agency

• UN agency in West Bank and Gaza says Israel isn’t processing visas.
• OCHAoPt reports influence on 2023 response plans.

United Nations agency that operates in the West Bank and Gaza says Israel is not processing visas for its newly recruited staff, while Israeli officials accuse the agency of “ignoring Israeli victims of terror” in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, a charge the agency denies.

A spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OCHAoPt) accused Israeli authorities last week of delaying issuing new visas for the agency though adding it remains “engaged with the authorities to resolve the situation.”

“We are concerned that this could have a significant long-term impact on ours and the wider humanitarian community’s ability to support Palestinians in need,” Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson in Geneva, told Media. “The impact on OCHA’s facilitation of the response planning for 2023 is already being felt.”

In an interview with Israeli Channel on last Wednesday, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, stated that he had suggested that OCHAoPt visa applications be suspended.

“They shouldn’t come in because there’s no reason that UN staffers that lie and create a false picture of the Palestinian narrative at the Security Council, there’s no reason they should be on such a stage from within Israel,” Erdan said.

He told media on Wednesday that he advised blocking new visas because the agency “doesn’t count as terror attacks Molotov cocktails and stones thrown at Israelis in the streets of East Jerusalem and the West Bank,” Erdan said, referring to incidents where Israeli cars and buses driving in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were hit with stones or other objects.

The West Bank and East Jerusalem are regarded by the UN as being occupied territory, and Israeli settlers there are thought to be residing illegally. That view of international law is contested by Israel.

When OCHA is questioned why they do not count Israeli victims, according to Erdan, they respond that they do not have accurate data.

“Of course you don’t, you don’t employ Hebrew speakers, and the senior manager of the agency is Palestinian,” Erdan said.

According to OCHA’s most recent report, there have been a few incidents where stones thrown at West Bank-bound civilian vehicles have hurt Israelis.

Laerke responded to Erdan’s claim by saying, “Reporting is part of OCHA’s mandate and is essential for efficient coordination of responses and advocacy on behalf of those in need. OCHA employs the same protection reporting process everywhere. It incorporates data verification and offers information in an impartial manner.

A spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the visa issue is “part of a broader discussion with OCHA.”

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