A building housing one of the offices of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Bourj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut last February. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has called on the international community to "step up its efforts to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and enable it to continue fulfilling its humanitarian missions towards Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and neighboring countries." It also welcomed the decision of several donor countries to resume, and even increase, their aid to the UN agency, and called on "those who do not already contribute to UNRWA's funding" to do so as well.
Several countries and organizations have recently resumed their funding to UNRWA after suspending it at the beginning of the year following Tel Aviv's accusations that some of the organization's employees had taken part in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack perpetrated by Hamas, which marked the start of the war pitting the Palestinian movement against Israel in Gaza.
"There is no alternative to UNRWA, which was created after the failure of the two-state solution some 75 years ago, and its role will inevitably come to an end when this solution is implemented and an independent Palestinian state emerges guaranteeing all refugees their rights and their return to their homeland," the ministry further insisted in a statement.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stressed that UNRWA, "has the knowledge accumulated over the years and the necessary expertise that makes it best placed to help Palestinian refugees residing in Lebanon, in light of the difficult humanitarian conditions they face in their areas of residence."
Finally, the Ministry stressed that support for Palestinian refugees via UNRWA helps to ward off "the specter of extremism and despair, which is a common interest for both host and donor countries."
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.