While condemning Israel for building legal structures, teh UN is funding illegal Palestinian construction in a plan to steal Judea and Samaria from its rightful owners.

UN Caught Red-Handed Stealing Israeli Land

Regavim, an Israeli NGO that engages in legal advocacy, has reported on the United Nations building at least five illegal buildings this year.

Regavim pursues legal action in the Israeli court system against any construction lacking Israeli permits undertaken by “Palestinians” or Bedouins in Israel and in Judea and Samaria. 

Naomi Kahn, the group’s international spokesperson, told Israel365 News that the UN has violated international law and the Oslo Accords for several years by “pouring millions of dollars into projects that support the Palestinian Authority’s systematic program to unilaterally establish a state.”

Some of the illegal UN-funded projects include the construction of agricultural roads in 2019 near Kfar a-Dykk outside of Peduel, which Regavim said was a clear violation of the Oslo Accords, stating that no permits were sought. Regavim also stated that in 2020 millions of U.N. dollars have been used for construction in the Arugot Nature Reserve and infrastructure work in the Heletz Valley.

UN: History of Illegal Construction

Naomi Kahn, the group’s international spokesperson, told Fox News that the UN has violated international law and the Oslo Accords for years by “pouring millions of dollars into projects that support the Palestinian Authority’s systematic program to unilaterally establish a state.”

In 2018, Regavim accused the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) of illegal encroachment and seizure of public property at their building in South Jerusalem. The illegal work included the demolition of historic buildings, construction of an illegal storage facility, and a gas station, which caused environmental damage to the surrounding area. The facilities grew from 11 acres to over 19 without permits. 

The U.N. does not own the buildings and does not pay rent. The UNTSO headquarters sits on Israeli territory captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. The U.N. took over the buildings in the 1950s and it has housed the UNTSO, which was originally set up to monitor a truce between Israel and its Arab neighbors following Israel’s War of Independence in 1948. The building used to house the British High Commissioner during the times of the British mandate and was used as its headquarters. 

The Jerusalem Basic Law passed in  1980 determined that “Jerusalem, complete and united” is the capital of Israel.

Regavim’s work against the UN is hampered by the international organization’s immunity under law, preventing it from being sued. Regavim must sue the Israeli government in order to compel them to enforce the law.

UN Carrying Out “Palestinian” Plan to Conquer Israel

In a 2009 interview with the New York Times, Salaam Fayyad, then Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, set out a strategy to take over Judea and Samaria by using these construction projects to sidestep the Oslo Accords:

“We have decided to take the initiative, to accelerate the end of the occupation through hard work, and to create facts on the ground that are consistent with the idea that the establishment of a state is not something that can be ignored. This is our agenda, and we intend to implement it with determination.”

In 2019, Regavim published a report on this, stating that the UN is effectively carrying out the “Fayyad Plan”:

Since the ratification of the Oslo Accords, and more so since 2009, the Palestinians – with the support of the United Nations and the EU – have been waging a multi-dimensional offensive to create a virtually irreversible reality in Area C. In this context, they have built tens of thousands of illegal structures, taken over agricultural land, paved new roads, and re-defined Israeli state land as Palestinian nature reserves, seizing areas that were designated by internationally ratified treaties as firing zones and nature reserves.”

The Oslo Accords signed in 1993 specify that “regarding Area C, it was agreed that responsibility for planning and zoning remained under the authority of Israel’s Civil Administration, pending possible future transfer of such powers and subject to the permanent status negotiations.” This obviates and supercedes any international laws or Geneva Conventions that may apply to regions that do not have such agreements. By building without the proper consent or permits from the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the UN is violating the Oslo Accords.

Kahn explained that UN-funded construction encourages “Palestinian intransigence, making a negotiated resolution of the conflict less and less likely, by circumventing the entire process of negotiation and compromise and creating a de facto Palestinian state, specifically in areas under Israeli jurisdiction.”

UN Hypocrisy

Regavim’s findings come just a few days after UN Secretary-General António Guterres criticized the destruction of these illegal structure in a speech marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

“Such actions are contrary to international law and undermine the prospects for the establishment of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state, “ Guterres said.

It should be noted that the event, touted as expressing solidarity with the “Palestinians”, has, in the past, been used as a platform for calling for the annihilation of Israel.  In 2005, the UN event included a map that showed all of Israel replaced by Palestine and was attended by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other senior UN officials. Last year, CNN commentator Lamont Hill spoke at the event, calling for the creation of a Palestinian state “From the river to the sea”, a motto that has been used by Hamas to call for the annihilation of Israel. Rep. Rashida Tlaib recently retweeted an invitation to the event containing the phrase.

European Illegal Construction

Other political entities also engage in funding illegal Palestinian construction. In February 2015 Regavim released a report documenting how the European Union was subsidizing illegal housing in Area C of the West Bank, which according to Oslo Accords is under interim Israeli jurisdiction. Israeli international law expert Alan Baker, who took part in the Oslo Accords’ creation, said that “EU is ignoring international law and taking concrete steps to influence the facts on the ground”. 

Belgium is also funding illegal “Palestinian” construction in Judea and Samaria in contravention of Israeli law and the guidelines specified in the Oslo Accords, claiming that Israeli law was not relevant as Israel was “occupying” the region.