Doha: In confronting multifaceted pressures and challenges, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is making unwavering efforts to provide essential funding for its life-saving operations at refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and a number of Arab states.
Following the conclusion of the UNRWA Pledging Conference held in New York over the past two days, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini expressed his confidence that the agency would have adequate resources until September 2024.
Addressing a press conference, Lazzarini highlighted that during the coming months, he will focus on bridging the UNRWA’s financial gaps between September and end of December 2024, warning of efforts that are afoot to disband the agency and alter the entrenched political criteria of peace in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. He added that these efforts include brutal assaults on social media platforms, along with legislative suggestions to expel UNRWA from
its headquarters in the East Occupied Jerusalem, in addition to designating it as a terrorist organization.
Although all countries have resumed their funding to the agency, the key financial challenge remains, he said, affirming that UNRWA lacks the essential resources to fulfill its mandate. He stressed that there is an urgent humanitarian appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, estimated at USD 1.2 billion to cover critical humanitarian needs until the end of 2024, in addition to urgent appeals for Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, that have not been yet funded except a rate not exceeding 20 percent.
The State of Qatar had participated in this conference, which is annually held. Qatar confirmed that UNRWA performs a pivotal and indispensable role and represents the backbone of life-saving humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip, commending the gargantuan efforts made by UNRWA staffers, particularly UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
In a statement before the conference, HE Permanent Repr
esentative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani highlighted that this year’s conference came in exceptional circumstances which are added to the crisis of the chronic shortages of funding facing UNRWA, pointing out that the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe generated from the relentless Israeli war on the Gaza Strip requires a massive humanitarian response.
She noted the State of Qatar’s announcement last May of an additional financial contribution of USD 25 million to support the core resources of UNRWA for 2024, in addition to USD 18 million provided in December 2023, underlining the State of Qatar’s steadfast coordination with the UNRWA Commissioner-General at multiple levels to ensure the continuation of efforts aimed at alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people, in addition to various forms of humanitarian, financial, and in-kind support provided by Qatar to the Palestinian people, in commensurate with its steadfast policy of solidarity with the
m.
In December 2023, the State of Qatar fulfilled its pledge to support UNRWA with QAR 65.7 million for 2023 and 2024, with the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating that Qatar expedited its commitment for 2024, to support the Palestinian people amidst the current challenging humanitarian conditions to contribute to filling the agency’s funding gap.
The Ministry noted that Qatar has surged its donations to UNRWA in the previous years to support its core resources, in consistent with Qatar’s steadfast policy of solidarity with the Palestinian people and providing all forms of support to them. Qatar was also the first Arab country to sign a multi-year agreement with UNRWA in 2018 to support its core resources.
During the conference, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated that UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian operations in Gaza, stressing that there is no alternative to UNRWA since its operations are foremost factors that offer a glimmer of hope and a degree of stability in a turbulent
region.
Guterres warned that without the necessary support and funding for UNRWA, Palestinian refugees will lose a critical lifeline and their last glimmer of hope for a better future, stating that 195 employees of UNRWA have been killed, the highest number of casualties among UN staff in history.
Before the same conference, President of the UNGA, Dennis Francis stressed that considering the essential services delivered by UNRWA and its staff, it should deeply alarm all that UNRWA is currently standing on the precipice of financial collapse, given the essential services provided by the agency and its staffers. He affirmed that since its establishment in 1949, the UNRWA has embodied the best of the United Nations’ field work for decades, gaining a reputation as a beacon of hope in a region plagued by routine turmoil.
In a new triumph for the Palestinian cause, the allegations of the Israeli entity have failed to smear UNRWA’s reputation in implicating it in the ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and
Israelis.
Last April, the Final Report of the UNRWA’s Independent Review of Mechanisms concluded that the Israeli entity did not provide any evidence of its allegations that hundreds of UNRWA’s staffers were members in the Palestinian resistance. Israel did not respond to UNRWA’s messages either, requesting the names of those staffers and the supportive evidence that would help open an investigation into this matter.
The report also added that UNRWA shares the names of its staffers annually with host governments in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, along with their positions. It also shares this information with the Israeli authorities and the United States regarding its staffers in East Occupied Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank. The report noted that the Israeli occupation government has not raised any concerns with UNRWA regarding any of its staffers based on those lists since 2011.
Since its establishment in 1949, as an organization with a humanitarian and developmental mandate to provide assistance and pro
tection to Palestinian refugees until a just and durable solution to their plight is achieved, UNRWA has been facing unprecedented and gratuitous attacks and criticisms aimed at undermining the agency, terminating its operations, in addition to liquidating the issue of Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes and lands, as guaranteed by international law and relevant UN resolutions.
Additionally, UNRWA cares for roughly six million registered refugees, including vulnerable groups such as children and persons with disabilities. It manages 58 recognized camps for Palestinian refugees and meets the critical humanitarian needs of over 1.6 million people in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, including East Occupied Jerusalem.
Source: Qatar News Agency