The UNRWA is an
institution I respect greatly. As a Palestinian refugee that was displaced from
his home in Jaffa, UNRWA gave me light at the end of the tunnel by providing me
with a scholarship to start my university studies at the American University of
Beirut. The UNRWA are a noble organization and play a pivotal role in providing
Palestinians with opportunities and hope. Their Commissioner General warned the
UN General Assembly on October 4th 2021 of the escalating
deterioration of conditions in Palestine, the lack of funding they are facing
and the tyrannical rule of the Zionists which is hell bent on wiping out the
Palestinian people.
Palestine’s
plight will always be close to my heart. The current situation in the country
is deteriorating and refugees are reaching record levels. The fourth conflict
that occurred in Gaza since 2008 has led to an unprecedented level of violence
against the Palestinians, which has seen destruction of homes, schools, shelter
and essential infrastructure; compounding poverty, restrictions in the
education delivery and exacerbating unacceptable unemployment levels.
The blockade of
goods and fledgling levels of humanitarian assistance due to funding shortages
is posing a real problem and the increased violence against them by settlers
and the occupying Zionist force is rising, being encouraged and are not being
held to account.
With the
absence of a genuine political action, this situation is set to get much worse
as law-abiding citizens get displaced daily from their homes without reason
through the use of force. The humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate
if the international community does not come together and greater funding is
given to agencies such as the UNRWA and others to help their plight, as post
COVID, funds are starting to dry up.
Palestinians
want the opportunity to live a normal, decent life, with dignity and
opportunity, just like any other nation. No morale, sane person can accept the
apartheid atrocities of the Zionist regime in any way, shape or from. We must
learn to call it what it is which is none other than terrorism. Everyone must
wake up to this fact and not give in to the Zionist lobbies that smear this
under the rhetoric of ‘anti semitism’. We must call a spade a spade.
I call for all
the international community to come together to help relieve the situation in Palestine
and resume their funding of humanitarian programmes as this is a cause we
cannot afford to turn a blind eye to.
Talal
Abu-Ghazaleh