Assassination of a refugee… A sudden decision Dr. Mohammed Al-Azza.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Azza. Translated from Arabic by Ibrahim Ebeid February 17- 2026
Assassination of a refugee… A sudden decision
Dr. Mohammed Al-Azza.
Translated from Arabic by Ibrahim Ebeid February 17- 2026
Since its inception, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been associated with the image of the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, in the memory of the international and Arab political consciousness in general, and the Palestinian consciousness in particular, the station at which it officially declared, after the end of the British Mandate, “occupied Palestine” and supported the seizure of more than 78% of the total historical area of Palestine by the herds of the Zionist entity.
Despite the Nakba and the great events it carried with pain, and the heavy legacy it left on the Arab nation militarily and morally, and the profound geopolitical and demographic changes, it refused to live but life, taking for itself a safe place in the East, to give birth to her first child inside the UNRWA tent, after its stakes were shaken, and she named him a “refugee”;
The journey of emergence in the refugee camps, which are distributed over five main fields of operation: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, began the journey of emergence in the refugee camps, carrying the United Nations Ration and Health Care Card (Ration Card), as a document of definition for a defenceless people who were displaced from their land under the horror of the killings and massacres committed by the armed Zionist gangs.
The tent has grown, and the camp has grown with it. Today it is 78 years old, so the right of return remains a legitimate dream that does not fall under the statute of limitations, confirmed by international legitimacy, foremost among them, the United Nations General Assembly Resolution No. (194) of 1948.
The leaders of the Zionist entity, along with the colonial powers that support it, bet that the older generations of the Nakba would die and that the younger ones would forget. Still, the Nakba remained a historical curse that haunted them and reproduced itself in consciousness and reality.
The person who established UNRWA never expected it to become a permanent witness against him, so relentless efforts were made to stifle it and try to assassinate it politically and financially, so as not to remind the world of the crimes committed against the Palestinian people.
The history of the Israeli entity and the United States of America is replete with attempts to target UNRWA and the camp, ranging from the use of excessive military force to the imposition of financial restrictions and sanctions. The most serious of these was the actions of the administration of US President Donald Trump on August 31, 2018, when it announced the complete suspension of US funding to the UNRWA, coinciding with the launch of the so-called “Deal of the Century”.
President Joe Biden’s administration followed up on January 26, 2024, by announcing the temporary “suspension” of US funding in the wake of the October 7, 2023, events, before Trump completed what he started in his second term.
Previously, US funding accounted for about a third of the Agency’s annual budget, amounting to approximately US$ 1.24 billion, which has had a profound impact on the lives of millions of Palestinian refugees who depend on UNRWA’s educational, health, and relief services.
However, the real goal of these steps remains political par excellence. It is to settle the Palestinian refugee issue, starting with denying its legal and political existence in the first place, in the context of an American-Israeli understanding aimed at resolving the issues of the final solution unilaterally and liquidating the entire Palestinian issue.
Today, UNRWA is no longer just a service institution, but a living witness to one of the greatest organized crimes of the modern era. The right of return, despite the conditions on the ground, the reality of the current political situation, and what is reflected in the imbalance of power in favor of the supporters of the occupation, remains the cornerstone of the Palestinian cause.
To abandon it necessarily means to abandon the rest of the rights, at the expense of the owners of the land and the surrounding countries, in favor of the project of a replacement “Jewish state.”
Fundamental questions arise: in whose interest is UNRWA liquidated and its programmes stopped?
And who will compensate for the role for which it was created legally and humanely?
Jordan, there are about 13 camps established in the Kingdom’s territory. Jordan contributed to preserving, organizing, and stabilizing their affairs, compared to other host countries, in recognition of the symbolism and the precise political and legal dimensions that the camps represent.
UNRWA provides services to more than three million Palestinian refugees registered in Jordan.
The US decision to stop supporting UNRWA forced the agency to reduce its education and health services by nearly 20% in its various areas of operations, amid UN warnings that it will not be able to meet its obligations towards millions of refugees, increasing the pressure on the Arab host countries, and Jordan in particular, as the largest host country.
The current US administration believes that this decision will be a “mercy bullet” fired at UNRWA, to relieve the burden of its testimony to the Nakba and the suffering of Palestinian refugees. In fact, however, it is an escape from the responsibility of partnership in creating this reality, with a racist substitution entity that supports attempts to assassinate an entire people, obliterate its identity, confiscate its legitimate rights to self-determination, and establish its independent state on its historic national soil.
A decision that will prolong the life of the camp, even if it harms its walls, but it will remain a spirit of resistance, a more opposing and solid political symbol, united in the face of the current US administration and the usurping Israeli entity in defense of Jordan, Palestine, and the entire Arab nation.
You are trying in vain…
There is no annihilation for a rebellious refugee,
It is like the resurrection… One day will come.
