UN chief calls for new Israeli-Palestinian talks, brands UNRWA outcome of ‘p…
Ban told a UN conference marking the anniversary of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency that UNRWA was never meant to exist for 65 years, but “it exists because of political failure.”
UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said there are over 5 million registered Palestinian refugees in the region today, which “equates to the population of Norway or Singapore.”
He said they “face an existential crisis on many fronts,” blockaded in Gaza by Israel, living under fear of detention by the Israeli army in the West Bank, and trapped by “a merciless siege and violence” in the Yarmouk refugee camp outside the Syrian capital Damascus.
“Their isolation, exclusion and dispossession represent a time bomb for the region, a denial of dignity and rights that must be addressed,” Krahenbuhl said.