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Iftikhar Ali
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 14 (APP):Amid Israel’s campaign to disable the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, Pakistan has fervently called on the international community to ensure that this “vital” institution was protected and enabled to discharge its mandate without hindrance.
“By undermining the Agency, Israel seeks to remove the last remaining structure that sustains Palestinian refugees,” Ambassador Usman Jadoon, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee, which deals with special political and decolonization issues.
Speaking in a debate on the work of UNRWA, he highlighted the “gravest assault” the humanitarian agency now faces, with its mandate questioned, staff vilified, facilities attacked, threatening its very existence.
For more than seven decades, UNRWA has been the lifeline of millions of Palestinian refugees scattered across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, providing education to generations of children, health care to the sick, emergency relief to the displaced, and a sense of dignity and belonging to those deprived of their homeland.
Indeed, Ambassador Jadoon called UNRWA a “beacon of hope” and the platform for many to achieve their dreams, as he reaffirmed Pakistan’s full support
to the agency.
Opening the debate, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, argued that the agency is indispensable for the stability and rebuilding of the shattered Gaza Strip – and the wider region, saying lack of sufficient funds was jeopardizing its ability to operate.
He said that the agency was also indispensable for the stability and rebuilding of the shattered Gaza Strip – and the wider region.
Lazzarini underlined that a “virulent” disinformation campaign has tarnished its reputation and strangled its funds.
In his remarks, the Pakistani envoy said that the Israeli measures against the agency were part of a broader strategy to erase the identity of the Palestinian people, deny the much-needed humanitarian aid and extinguish their aspirations for statehood and self-determination.
He described the legislation passed by Israel seeking to ban UNRWA’s operations, revoke its immunities, and even designate it a “terrorist organization” a “travesty of international law, a violation of the UN Charter”, and an affront to this Assembly which created UNRWA through a resolution.
“We reject these actions in the strongest terms,” he said, adding they have no legal validity. “No member state has the authority to dissolve or dismantle a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly.
Pakistan, he said, stands in resolute solidarity with the Palestinian people and with UNRWA: “our commitment is clear and unwavering”.
“We reaffirm the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and statehood, and we reaffirm our full support to UNRWA’s humanitarian mandate until a just and lasting political settlement of the question of Palestine is achieved.”
“Attempts to delegitimize, defund, or dismantle the Agency must cease,” Ambassador Jadoon said, while underscoring the need for addressing its chronic underfunding. “The humanitarian needs of Palestine refugees cannot be mortgaged to political expedience or partisan considerations. The world must not fail these refugees once again”.
“The Agency’s work has not only served the refugees; it has also helped preserve regional stability by averting humanitarian collapse.”
Pakistan, he said, welcomed the peace efforts led by President Donald Trump and commends the crucial role played by the mediators – Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye, and the United States, in facilitating the negotiations that led to a ceasefire under the U.S.leader’s 20-point plan.
“We sincerely hope these efforts will yield sustainable results, including a permanent cessation of hostilities and a just, comprehensive and lasting peace,” the Pakistani envoy said.
“We also sincerely expect that the peace efforts would lead to a credible, time-bound political process consistent with international legitimacy and relevant UN resolutions to establish an independent, sovereign, and contiguous State of Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.”
Ambassador Feda Abdelhady, Deputy Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN, also described the agency as “indispensable and irreplaceable.”
“We urge all States to remain steadfast and principled in their support of UNRWA, with due recognition of its vital role.”