Catastrophe

• Israel demanded that donor countries cease all funding to UNRWA and claimed the organization is supporting Hamas.
• Additionally, Israel called for the cessation of UNRWA activities in Gaza after the war.
• Sixteen mostly western countries, including Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, announced they were suspending their funding to UNRWA.
• UNRWA has warned that unless funding is restored it may need to shut down by the end of February.

What is UNRWA?

• Following the Nakba (Catastrophe) in 1948, the agency was formed to respond to the urgent needs of the displaced Palestinian population.
• It currently supports over six million Palestinians, employing more than 30,000 staff members, with a significant portion dedicated to operations in Gaza.

Israel’s accusations

• UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has said Israel has not yet shared the dossier with the United Nations.
• While these accusations are serious, maintaining an objective approach and refraining from drawing hasty conclusions about the UNRWA’s 30,000 employees is crucial.
• The 12 employees accused of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack represent 0.04 per cent of the agency’s staff.

Funding cuts aren’t new

• Israel has long sought to dismantle UNRWA and the agency has faced the threat of funding cuts in the past.
• UN General Assembly Resolution 194, passed in 1948, enshrines the right of Palestinian refugees to return home and receive compensation for losses suffered.
• UNRWA is an organization that recognizes the status of Palestinian refugees and, by extension, their right to return at some point.
• If UNRWA is unable to function, it could heighten political and social tensions in the region, especially in the countries hosting Palestinians, which will directly feel the repercussions of funding cuts.

Emilie El Khoury receives funding for her postdoctoral research at Queen's University from Queen’s Research Opportunities Postdoctoral Fund.

• Albuquerque, Oct. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) announced today that Security First Insurance will license terrain data from HurLoss®, ARA’s state-of-the-art hurricane loss model.
• “ARA’s terrain service API allows us to better understand individual policy risk at any given location in Florida and more accurately price our wind mitigation discounts,” said Robert Ketchum, vice president of Product and Underwriting at Security First .
• ARA is a globally recognized research and engineering firm dedicated to safety and security solutions.
• “ARA is extremely gratified to partner with such an important insurance carrier to the Florida market.” said George Freimarck, business leader for Catastrophe Modeling at ARA.

• Albuquerque, NM, June 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FutureProof Technologies Inc. has signed an agreement with Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) to license hurricane hazard and vulnerability data sets which form the basis for HurLoss®, ARA’s state-of-the-art hurricane model.
• FutureProof is an Insurtech startup targeting solutions to climate change by developing innovative AI-driven proprietary models to underwrite risk.
• ARA is a globally recognized research and engineering firm dedicated to safety and security solutions.
• By licensing our HurLoss model’s data sets, FutureProof will be able to build the tools to achieve their vision for insurance, climate adaptation and resilience.”
  ARA’s HurLoss™ U.S. Hurricane model allows re/insurers, ILS managers, and brokers to make superior underwriting and portfolio management decisions.

• They are also marking the fact that the Nakba did not end in 1948, but continues in different forms to this day.
• What Palestinians call “ongoing Nakba” still generates suffering, destruction of homes and loss of Palestinian lives.
• They experience it in the continuing Israeli annexation of their land and attacks launched regularly against their homes in Gaza.

Violent escalation

• The 75th anniversary of the Nakba comes at a critical and dangerous juncture that has seen a relentless escalation in Israeli violent interventions against Palestinians in the occupied territories and Gaza, which began with the unity intifada (or uprising) in 2021.
• In 2021, 313 Palestinians including 71 minors were reportedly killed in the Gaza Strip and West Bank (including East Jerusalem) by Israeli security forces.
• A record high of 204 Palestinians were reportedly killed in 2022, making it the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005.

A hidden people

• While the UN move might be seen as a diplomatic coup for Palestinians, it nevertheless serves to underline two interrelated problems.
• The first is that Palestinian history, when it is told, tends to be done as part of Israeli history.
• The second is that the Palestinians themselves – as ordinary human beings – remain a largely unknown quantity in the west.
• In March, the BBC aired a two-part television series The Holy Land and Us in the UK.