Qatar condemned, in the strongest terms, the Israeli Knesset’s approval of draft laws banning the activities of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the occupied Palestinian territories, considering it a dangerous precedent for the UN and multilateral action, and a terrifying development in the war of genocide waged by the occupation against the defenceless Palestinian people, and a continuation of its systematic targeting of the UN agency and its vital humanitarian activities.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed, in a statement Tuesday, that the Palestinian people besieged in the Gaza Strip have been facing catastrophic humanitarian conditions due to the brutal aggression targeting them for more than a year, the obstruction of the delivery of necessary aid to the areas of the Strip, and the use of food and medicine as a weapon against them, warning in this context that banning UNRWA activities will lead to serious humanitarian and political consequences, especially depriving millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria of its necessary services, in addition to liquidating the issue of Palestinian refugees and their right to return to their areas and homes, which is guaranteed by international law and relevant UN resolutions, specifically UN General Assembly resolutions 194 and 237.
The ministry also stressed that the Israeli occupation’s disdain for international laws, agreements and resolutions, its disregard for the activities and goals of international organisations, and its persistence in committing horrific crimes of murder and forced displacement against children, women and the elderly in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, requires international solidarity to end the barbaric war on the Strip immediately, and to exert all efforts to compel Israel to comply with the efforts aimed at achieving a just and sustainable peace in the region.
The ministry renewed Qatar’s full support for UNRWA, based on its firm and supportive position towards the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, foremost of which is their right to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
