Qatar reaffirms support to UNRWA for Palestinian refugees

Doha, 9 November 2023 (WAI): In a statement, the State of Qatar reaffirmed its steadfast support for UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Considering the Palestinian cause’s various obstacles, this funding is essential to the agency’s ability to carry out its critical purpose.

Sheikh Jassim Al Thani, the Third Secretary of the State of Qatar’s Permanent Delegation to the UN, made a speech before the UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee that stressed several essential issues.

Above all, Qatar underlined that the international community and donors must give UNRWA significant financial support.

To make it possible for the agency to carry out its duty successfully and to support the most recent General Assembly resolution on the “Protection of Civilians and Upholding Legal and Humanitarian Obligations,” financial support is essential.

Qatar conveyed its appreciation to the Commissioner-General of UNRWA and the Director of UNRWA’s New York Office for their thorough briefing, which illuminated the appalling humanitarian conditions that exist across the occupied Palestinian territory, especially in the Gaza Strip.

The State acknowledged the admirable work of UNRWA, an agency that, since its founding, has supplied over 5 million Palestinian refugees with basic requirements and services.

It is also important to note that UNRWA now has a much more significant role because of the dire humanitarian crisis that has developed in Gaza as a result of Israeli strikes on civilian facilities, such as schools, hospitals, and shelters for internally displaced people.

The declaration also categorically denounced the bombing of the Gaza camp by the Israeli occupation, which claimed many innocent lives.

This demanded swift international action to put an end to the carnage and bloodshed, with Qatar pressing for an end to the intensification and escalation of Israeli assaults.

The Israeli occupation’s policy of collective punishment and forced relocation, which has resulted in the terrible deaths of over 9,000 Palestinian civilians—nearly 70% of them were women and children—must end, the State said.

Furthermore, the State of Qatar acknowledged that UNRWA’s persistent lack of funding from member nations poses an existential threat to the organization and makes it increasingly difficult to forecast the money needed to continue operating.

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In response, Qatar has demonstrated its commitment to the burden-sharing concept and support for the Palestinian people by increasing its contributions to the agency’s core resources by double in recent years.

In 2018, Qatar became the first Arab nation to sign a multi-year deal with UNRWA, pledging USD 18 million to sustain the organization’s primary resources for 2023–2024.

As a result, the statement emphasized how the State of Qatar’s membership in the UNRWA Advisory Committee, which it has held since 2018, demonstrates its commitment to offering the Palestinian people and UNRWA different types of support.

The statement also restated Qatar’s steadfast support for the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian people’s rights, and the creation of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.