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Saudi Arabia has provided approximately $1 billion in financial support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Saudi Permanent Representative to the UN Abdallah Al-Mouallimi said, pledging that the Kingdom will continue to seek lasting solutions to UNRWA’s financial challenges.
In a speech to the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) meeting here on Friday, Al-Mouallimi recalled that UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 as a result of the Nakba (Catastrophe), when Israel displaced the Palestinians from their lands.
“Today, 5.4 million Palestine refugees are displaced and deprived of the most basic means of dignified living. Their suffering increases daily because of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where the illegal blockade has increased despair and the expansion of settlements has demolished any hope for a two State solution,” he noted.
“Meanwhile, Israel continues to refuse to pursue peace on the basis of justice, equality and the right of the Palestinian people to establish their own State with Jerusalem as their capital,” the Saudi envoy said.
“For its part, Saudi Arabia has provided approximately $1 billion in financial support to UNRWA,” he said, pledging that the Kingdom will continue to seek lasting solutions to the Agency’s financial challenges.
Al- Mouallimi called upon member states to fulfill UNRWA’s needs and to increase their contributions so that it can implement its programs, which have seen increased demand due to Israel’s continued aggression. He added that Saudi Arabia is also committed to addressing the root causes of the crisis, including the Israeli occupation, to seek progress towards a two State solution.
“Meanwhile, the right of return is an entitlement that will be achieved through the will of God,” he said, describing the international community’s weakness in pursuing that right as a disgrace.
Source: International Islamic news agency