UNRWA: International community must re-engage in a meaningful and constructive way with all Palestinian people 

Date: 20 / 06 / 2007 Time: 19:40

Bethlehem - Ma'an - 

Marking World Refugee Day, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the UN agency responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees, has released the following statement:

The Deputy Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency today described as "positive" the interest the international community has shown in "supporting the Palestinian people and revitalizing the peace process". However, in a speech to mark World Refugee Day, Filippo Grandi warned that "the majority of citizens in Gaza – and increasingly the West Bank – are desperately struggling to maintain societal values, while societal structures are collapsing, creating room for violence and radicalism".

"For the sake of peace and for the sake of saving human lives, the international community must re-engage in a meaningful, constructive way with all Palestinian people", said Grandi.

Commenting on developments of recent days, Grandi said that UNRWA wished "to tell policy-makers that their judgment and their decisions must be informed by the concerns of those who have suffered the most through the years of missed opportunities – Palestinian women and men that want to live in peace. In the short term, humanitarian assistance must continue to be provided to those in need – in the West Bank and in Gaza", said Grandi. "In the long term, no pursuit of peace will be successful unless assistance geared towards development and the building of institutions resumes for the entire occupied Palestinian territory, the root causes of the conflict are tackled and - now in particular - reconciliation among Palestinians is actively promoted".

Comparing the situation in the West Bank with that of Gaza, Grandi said "just as in Gaza, trade is almost non-existent and the movement of humanitarian workers and goods is becoming increasingly difficult". "In the West Bank, the occupation manifests itself in the form of restrictions of movement and access, of confiscated land, illegal settlements and outposts". Grandi drew particular attention to "a hardening permit regime", and warned against the use of swipe cards at Israeli checkpoints.

Commenting on the situation in the Palestine refugee camp in northern Lebanon, Nahr El Bared, Grandi said, "as recent developments in Lebanon have demonstrated, Palestine refugees are especially susceptible to instability. For the 27,000 residents of Nahr El Bared camp, who have run away from the fighting to find refuge in another already overcrowded camp, the conditions are dismal and the situation is bleak. Our television screens have been showing plumes of black smoke rising from the camp for over two weeks. And yet the shelling continues, resulting in further civilian casualties".

 

 

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