Palestinian
workers re-build the commercial center which was destroyed by Israeli
shelling during operation protective edge, in Rafah in the southern Gaza
Strip, on April 20, 2015. Funded by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP). (Abed Rahim Khatib /Flash 90)
A United Nations employee working in Gaza has been arrested for using his position at the UN Development Program (UNDP) to directly help Hamas, Israeli officials revealed on Tuesday.
Waheed Abdallah Borsh, a Gazan Palestinian working for UNDP,
was arrested in July by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and
indicted on Tuesday, when the investigation was cleared for publication.
Borsch had been employed as an
engineer at UNDP since 2003. According to its website, the organization
runs programs aimed at improving conditions for the residents of the
Gaza Strip in four sectors: governance, productive livelihoods,
environment, and infrastructure.
Among its infrastructure projects is
the rebuilding of homes and neighborhoods destroyed during 2014’s
Operation Protective Edge. Borsch was responsible for overseeing
demolition of damaged houses and removing waste from demolition sites.
During the Shin Bet investigation,
Borsh admitted that in 2014 a senior Hamas official had instructed Borsh
to use his position for the benefit of the terror group. In carrying
out the mission, Borsh helped build a naval marina for Hamas’s military
in northern Gaza; influenced the organization into giving preference to
rehabilitation projects in areas where Hamas operatives lived; and
circumvented procedures for reporting the presence of weapons or terror tunnels in homes worked by the organization, enabling Hamas to confiscate arms and exploit existing tunnels.
Of high interest to the investigators
was Borsh’s revelation that many other Palestinians employed at
humanitarian aid agencies are, in fact, working for Hamas.
His statement carried extra weight in
light of the fact that it was the second time within a week that a
Palestinian worker was discovered to be abusing a position of power with
an aid organization and diverting humanitarian resources towards
Hamas’s militant organization.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
responded quickly to the UNDP scandal, calling on UN officials to
“unequivocally condemn Hamas for exploiting the humanitarian aid system
for its own aims” and take measures to ensure that aid for Gazans
“actually assist those in need in Gaza instead of assisting the
terrorist leaders of Hamas.”
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Topic: UN Engineer Arrested for Diverting Humanitarian Aid to Hamas
