Israeli Parliament Bans UN Aid Agency for Palestinian Refugees |
Israel’s legislature passed two bills yesterday banning the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in Israel and reducing its ability to act in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel has long accused the agency of being infiltrated by Hamas, but countries including the United States warned against such a ban due to its consequences on the already tenuous humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories. U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that Washington urged Israel “to pause the implementation of this legislation,” while a joint statement from Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, and Spain called the agency “essential and irreplaceable.”
Most of the new provisions are due to go into effect in three months, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would work with international partners to ensure aid continued to flow before and after the law takes effect “in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security.” The agency provides education as well as health and humanitarian services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. (NYT, AP, Politico, Government of Norway, Times of Israel)
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“Israel has criticized UNRWA for decades, arguing that its work aiding Palestinian refugees and their descendants further perpetuated the longstanding territorial conflict with Israel,” the New York Times’ Aaron Boxerman and Matthew Mpoke Bigg write. “The legislation passed on Monday night had the potential to push the agency’s operations into precarious and uncharted territory.”
“With UNRWA as the largest humanitarian organization operating in Gaza, no other entity can match its reach or capacity,” University College London’s Anne Irfan and the Lebanese American University’s Jo Kelcey write for Think Global Health. “Beyond its life saving role, UNRWA is also best placed to support the reconstruction of the devastated Gaza Strip. In a setting where tens of thousands of people have sustained life-changing injuries, many more have been bereaved, [over] 1.7 million have been displaced, and everyone has been traumatized, ad hoc aid projects are not enough.”
This In Brief by CFR’s Christina Bouri explains what’s at stake as Israel contests UNRWA’s mandate.
Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict. |
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U.S., China Up Restrictions on Tech Investments, Rare Earth Minerals |
The U.S. Treasury Department published final rules yesterday on some U.S. advanced technology investments in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. The Biden administration had previewed the rules, the final version of which defines “U.S. persons” subject to restrictions to include permanent residents. Meanwhile, China in recent weeks has extended its control over its rare earth minerals sector that produces inputs for computer chips; a Beijing-owned company is taking over the last two foreign-owned rare earth refineries in the country. (Nikkei, NYT)
In this Backgrounder, Noah Berman and Anshu Siripurapu unravel the contentious trade relationship between the United States and China.
China: The number of billionaires in China fell by more than a third in the past three years as weak spots in the Chinese economy and stock market have taken their toll, according to research group Hurun. (FT)
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Afghanistan, Pakistan Launch New Polio Vaccination Drives as Cases Grow |
Pakistan has seen forty-one cases this year and Afghanistan has seen twenty-three, up from six cases in each country in 2023, the World Health Organization said. Violence, misinformation, and government delays have slowed vaccination campaigns this year, but new pushes began yesterday. (VOA) For Think Global Health, Mustafa Basij Rasikh and Alyssa Sharkey paint a picture of the urgent needs in Afghanistan’s health sector.
India/South Korea: Indian steelmaker JSW and South Korean steelmaker POSCO signed a preliminary deal for a joint plant in India as well as potential collaborations on battery materials for electric vehicles. POSCO dropped plans a few years ago for what was then called India’s biggest foreign investment—a $12 billion steel plant project in the Indian state of Odisha—over land acquisition delays. (Reuters)
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Middle East and North Africa |
Vietnam Announces Economic Partnership Deal With UAE |
The agreement announced today is Vietnam’s first free trade deal with a Middle Eastern country, the Vietnamese trade ministry said. Abu Dhabi agreed to phase out tariffs on 99 percent of Vietnamese exports and Hanoi agreed to remove them on 98.5 percent of UAE exports. Hanoi reported that bilateral trade turnover grew 6 percent from 2022 to 2023. (Reuters) |
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UN Leader: New Approaches Needed as Sudan Becomes ‘Nightmare of Mass Ethnic Violence’ |
António Guterres acknowledged calls by Sudanese groups for increased protection of civilians in its civil war while addressing the Security Council yesterday. The Rapid Support Forces militia killed at least 124 people in an El Gezira village on Friday, activists said. Guterres said the conditions were not right for the deployment of a UN force, but that he was ready to discuss other methods of reducing violence. (Reuters)
CFR expert Michelle Gavin argues for the humanitarian innovation Sudan desperately needs.
Nigeria: Financial tech startup Moniepoint became Africa’s latest “unicorn,” a privately held firm valued at more than $1 billion, the company and unnamed people familiar with the transaction said. The company provides bank accounts and loans and shot up in popularity during Nigeria’s 2023 push to replace the country’s currency notes. (Punch, FT)
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North Korea’s Top Envoy Visits Russia Amid Reports of Troop Surge |
North Korea’s foreign minister left yesterday for a trip to Russia that comes on the heels of multiple countries’ warnings of North Korean troop activity in the country. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was the latest to issue such a warning yesterday. The U.S. Department of Defense said yesterday that if North Korea joins Russia’s fight in Ukraine, it will put no new limits on Ukraine’s use of U.S. weapons. (ABC, BBC, Reuters)
CFR’s Liana Fix and Benjamin Harris explain why North Korean troops mark a dangerous new phase in the war in Ukraine.
Hungary/Georgia: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán praised the integrity of Georgian elections on a visit to Tbilisi today, even as electoral authorities approved a partial vote recount. Georgia’s pro-Western opposition parties have said the vote was falsified in favor of the pro-Russian ruling party. (Politico, AFP)
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Argentina Says It’s Ready to Boost Flights to Falklands in Thaw With UK |
Flights between Argentina’s second city and the United Kingdom (UK) territory the Falkland Islands were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and never reinstated under the previous left-wing government, which stressed Argentine claims to sovereignty over the islands. The Javier Milei administration has since sought to improve ties with the UK. (FT)
Bolivia: The government pushed back against former President Evo Morales’s claim that he was the subject of an assassination attempt yesterday. The interior ministry said that Morales shot at police who pursued him after he refused to stop at a checkpoint, and that police fired back. (Bloomberg)
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Authorities Probe Apparent Arson Attacks on Ballot Drop Boxes |
Local officials investigating fires that destroyed ballots cast in Oregon and Washington yesterday said there is evidence that the apparent arson attacks were connected. An identical car was seen at both sites prior to the attacks. In Vancouver, Washington, “hundreds” of ballots were potentially destroyed, officials said. The FBI is also investigating the incidents. (NBC, CNN)
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