Not just for Gaza and the occupied West Bank, but for the entire region, UNRWA is “irreplaceable” and “indispensable.”
At the UN General Assembly on Thursday, several top diplomats pleaded for political and financial backing for the organization.
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At a meeting held on the sidelines of the summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that UNRWA is a “force for stability in the most unstable region of the world.”
Any chance of peace and stability in the area depends on UNRWA. I ask that you give your full support for its work.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the agency’s role has been under scrutiny.
UNRWA became one of the main aid distributors in the area as bombing campaigns and a ground invasion caused the Palestinians to flee thousands of them.
The UN organization is now in a major financial crisis, with a budget deficit of $200 million, as a result of the United States’ decision to stop funding.
Ayman Safadi, the foreign minister of Jordan on Thursday, issued a warning that “UNRWA is collapsing.”
“I don’t need to argue UNRWA,” I said. Gaza’s children are suffering because of that, Safadi said.
“UNRWA is argued by the mothers who are watching their children fade before their eyes.” UNRWA is argued by the 600,000 or more students in Gaza who haven’t attended school in two years.
Millions of Palestinians in occupied Palestinian territory and the Middle East receive cash, medical care, education, humanitarian aid, and other services from the UN.
The organization was established in 1949 to provide for the needs of the tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees who had been ethnically expelled from their cities prior to the establishment of the state of Israel.
UNRWA has since been providing assistance to Palestinian refugees who have fled their homes and their kin, who remain stateless refugees.
UNRWA has been under the purview of successive Israeli governments for years, with some claiming to be affiliated with armed groups and distributing anti-Semitic materials.
However, some claim that UNRWA’s efforts to demonize Palestinian refugees who want to return to their homes in contemporary Israel.
Pressure on UNRWA increased following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Israel falsely claimed that UNRWA employees were involved in the attack despite lacking any conclusive proof.
Consequently, several nations halted the organization’s funding. The US has not, despite the fact that many people have since restored UNRWA’s aid.
At the meeting on Thursday, Safadi explained that UNRWA had been the subject of a “political assassination campaign” well before October 2023, aimed to snag international support for the organization.
He also paid tribute to UNRWA staff members’ sacrifices, who have killed hundreds since Israel’s occupation of Gaza began.
“UnRWA persists, though. The Jordanian diplomat remarked, “It perseveres.”
“UNRWA staff members leave Gaza and attempt to assist those who are buried there.” We must save because of this. We believe UNRWA to be indispensable in this regard. Its position is unchangeable.
Brazil’s Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, for his part, decried the efforts to discredit UNRWA.
He claimed that the Israeli government’s “unsettling pattern of obstructing and violence” includes legal restrictions on UNRWA operations and the closure of UNRWA offices and facilities in East Jerusalem.
Equally alarming are UNRWA’s attempts to delegitimize it through defamation, defamation, and legal harassment, as well as initiatives aimed at replacing it with other humanitarian organizations in Gaza through militarization of aid distribution.
Israel has recently passed laws that forbid contact with the organization and ban the organization from entering the country.
That has also hindered UNRWA’s operations in the occupied East Jerusalem, which has been annexed by Israel.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced that Spain will give UNRWA 10 million euros ($11.66 million), increasing the amount that Madrid has contributed to the organization since the start of the conflict to about 60 million euros ($70 million).
The agency needs to be supported financially, according to Albares, and the needs are great.
He further advised nations that oppose UNRWA activities to press for the establishment of a Palestinian state that would care for its own citizens and fulfill its obligations.
Despite the dire state of things in Gaza right now, UNRWA’s Philippe Lazzarini claimed the organization is still active in the area.
