The United Nations was considering a response to Israel's plan to establish military facilities on the site of UNRWA's East Jerusalem headquarters, agency official Natalie Boucly told the Associated Press on May 19. Speaking during a visit to Syria, the deputy commissioner-general said the issue was before the UN's legal authorities in New York.
Israel approved the project on May 17. According to a Defence Ministry and Jerusalem municipality statement reported by The Times of Israel, the roughly nine-acre site near Ammunition Hill would house an Israeli military museum, an enlistment office and an office for the defence minister. The proposal therefore combines recruitment, administrative and public exhibition functions on the compound.
Defence Minister Israel Katz presented the decision as strengthening Israeli sovereignty and security. The newspaper also reported that the ministry and municipality had signed a separate agreement in December to establish defence headquarters and relocate military colleges to Jerusalem. Israeli authorities began demolishing the UNRWA headquarters in January, before approving this new use of the site.
Later on May 20 in New York, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the military-facilities decision and urged Israel to reverse it and immediately return the Sheikh Jarrah compound to the United Nations. That statement followed the legal review described in the May 19 interview; it was not available at this article's original morning publication time in India.
In the statement issued by spokesman Stephane Dujarric, the UN maintained that UNRWA is part of the organisation and that the compound remains UN premises. It said the Israeli measures breached the premises' inviolability and obstructed the General Assembly mandate for UNRWA's continued operations in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.
The competing positions concern the status of the compound itself: Israel announced a new military use, while the UN demanded restoration of premises it continues to regard as protected. Guterres also cited Israel's obligations concerning UN privileges and immunities in calling for the decision's reversal.
