LONDON: The Palestinian Authority denounced an Israeli plan to build an educational complex north of East Jerusalem on a site that has housed a vocational training college operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine.
The site is situated in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood, directly opposite the main entrance to Qalandia refugee camp, established by UNRWA after the Palestinian mass displacement in 1948. It is also adjacent to the now-shuttered Jerusalem airport, where the Israeli government drafted a plan in January to build 9,000 settlement units.
The PA-affiliated Jerusalem Governorate said the Israeli project undermines the work of UNRWA in Jerusalem under the guise of public service initiatives. It warned that Israel evicted a family from their home in East Jerusalem in 2022 to build educational institutions that have yet to begin, according to Palestine News Agency.
The classrooms will be established on an 82,000 sq. m site. It is unclear when construction will begin and end.
Kafr Aqab is located within the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem, where most Palestinian residents hold Israeli-issued IDs and are required to pay property tax to the Israeli government. The Jerusalem municipality runs several schools in Kafr Aqab.
The Jerusalem Governorate claimed that the project will effectively lead to the removal of UNRWA’s Vocational Training College and the termination of its activities at the site.
The Israeli government has accused UNRWA of harboring Hamas militants who took part in deadly attacks in southern Israel in October 2023, a claim the UN agency has denied.
Nonetheless, Israel moved to ban UNRWA’s activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where it closed down its headquarters in May 2025, while in the Gaza Strip it bombed and destroyed several UNRWA-run facilities, including schools, and killed 136 UN personnel.
