Source: Saba News Agency
The Yemeni government has reaffirmed its complete support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), supporting its continued operations and the execution of its vital humanitarian role which is indispensable in providing aid to the Palestinian people to prevent catastrophic consequences resulting from the withholding of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories and its use as a tool of war in flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.
In its statement at the informal meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to hear an update on UNRWA, delivered by Yemen’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdullah Al-Saadi, on Wednesday, the Yemeni government clarified that UNRWA is not merely an aid agency but provides education, healthcare, social services, and protection to Palestinian refugees. It cannot be dispensed with, nor can the Palestinian refugee issue, the right of return, and compensation guaranteed by international law and relevant UN resolutions be liquidated.
The statement further highlighted that the Israeli Knesset’s decision to ban UNRWA’s activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, and to prevent its staff from obtaining the diplomatic privileges and immunities granted to United Nations organizations operating in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, is considered a violation of international law and Israel’s obligations as the occupying power. The UN Secretary-General has warned in his latest letter to the President and members of the General Assembly that banning UNRWA’s activities would have serious repercussions on the agency’s ability to carry out its activities in the occupied Palestinian territories and the broader region, in line with the mandate from the General Assembly, leading to disastrous humanitarian impacts by depriving millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria of its essential services.
The Yemeni government reiterated its strong condemnation of the Israeli entity’s adoption of two laws to prohibit UNRWA from conducting its humanitarian activities in the occupied territories, considering this decision a clear and direct violation of international norms and treaties, setting a dangerous international precedent, and constituting a new act of arbitrariness and undermining of humanitarian work principles and laws with severe humanitarian consequences that exacerbate the suffering of the Palestinian people.
The statement called for the imposition of decisive and deterrent measures against Israel, the occupying power, to ensure the protection of the isolated Palestinian people and UN organizations and humanitarian entities. It renewed calls for international community unity and solidarity to support UNRWA.
It also urged the Security Council to take its responsibilities to ensure the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and to take effective measures to stop these daily practices and crimes against the Palestinian people, to immediately cease fire, end the occupation, and establish an independent sovereign state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, within the framework of the two-state solution according to the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant international legal resolutions. It called for an emergency special session of the General Assembly to support UNRWA and its mandate.
