UNRWA Illegally Built on 21 Acres in Jerusalem, Must Now Tear Down and Pay Up

UNRWA is now in a world of woe. With evidence gathered by Israeli intelligence, twelve of its employees have been charged with taking part in the Hamas atrocities on October 7. The evidence has been convincing enough that UNRWA has fired those employees, and nine major donors to UNRWA have suspended their aid until the whole murky affair can be cleared up, and any other skeletons in UNRWA’s closet can be revealed.

Now the Israel Land Authority (ILA) has just presented UNRWA, which has in recent years been squatting on 21 acres of Jewish-owned land in northern Jerusalem, with a set of demands: first, it must promptly destroy the buildings it has constructed on the site; second, it must vacate the area; third, it must pay an enormous sum — 17 million shekels ($4.6 million) — to settle claims of back rent due to the ILA as owner of the property.

More on UNRWA, and the 21 acres in Jerusalem it must now vacate, can be found here: “Israel asks UNRWA to vacate plot, pay fine in capital over illegal activity,” by Yori Yalon, Israel Hayom, January 26, 2024:

The Israel Land Authority (ILA) has recently sent a letter to the UNRWA demanding that the UN Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA)vacate the premises of a compound in the village of Kafr Aqab, a neighborhood in northern Jerusalem, citing its lack of permit to use the state-owned plot.

Apparently UNRWA began recently to squat, illegally, on the 21 acres. It put up buildings on the site but never paid the “usage fees” due the owner of the property, the Israel Land Authority, based on its being built upon. Nor did UNRWA obtain a building permit for the structures it put up.

In the letter, the ILA’s legal counsel for the Jerusalem District emphasized that UNRWA has taken over the land in the city without a permit and that the ILA demanded its evacuation and the retroactive payment of 17 million shekels ($4.6 million) in usage fees.

The UNRWA compound in question was allegedly built without a proper permit for its current usage. The land, spanning 21 acres, is located near the Qalandiya checkpoint and was purchased at the beginning of the 20th century by Jewish philanthropists abroad, who donated it to a special fund for developing Jewish settlement in the Jerusalem area. UNRWA-affiliated people took over the land and built on it, among other things, a school and a memorial for terrorists who were involved in terror activities in Jerusalem.

On January 14, the ILA sent the letter to UNRWA in Jerusalem, demanding retroactive payment of the fee due to the illegal construction and usage.

“You are hereby required to immediately cease all unlawful use, demolish everything you have built illegally, evacuate the land of all persons and/or objects and restore the situation to its previous state, within 30 days of the date of this letter,” the letter reads….

UNRWA will now be permanently barred from those 21 valuable acres of state-owned land in northern Jerusalem that it had been squatting on. It will be forced to pull down the buildings it put up at great expense on the property. And it will have to come up with nearly $5 million in retroactive rent, at a time when eight of its major donors have suspended their aid, and the agency can no longer pay its employees their full salaries. That’s too bad for UNRWA. But it’s good — I hope you agree — for Israel.