AHRC Hosts High- Level UNRWA Delegation In Dearborn:
On March 12, the American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) hosted a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) delegation in Dearborn in an informal briefing and discussion with community leaders. The two guests were top leaders of UNRWA: Ms. Antonia Marie De Meo, Deputy Commissioner-General (Operational Support) and Mr. William R. (Bill) Deere, Director of the organization’s Washington, DC office.
Ms. De Meo presented an overview of the current state of UNRWA amidst the catastrophe in Gaza and the difficulties UNRWA is facing. Especially challenging are the pretextual cuts and suspension of funding from several supporting countries including the US. These cuts threaten UNRWA operations in Gaza, the West Bank, and in the countries that host refugees such as Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Ms. De Meo emphasized that these funds are essential to meet the refugees’ basic survival needs. Ms. De Meo shed light on the extreme challenges UNRWA is facing in Gaza and the state of starvation and the severe lack of healthcare aid to children, women, and the elderly.
Participant community leaders stressed on the importance of sustaining the much-needed funds for UNRWA especially during these times. Leaders expressed strong opposition to the Israeli effort to dismantle UNRWA by starving it of funds. There is simply no alternative to UNRWA.
Community leaders representing a wide spectrum of different organizations called on the Biden administration to restore UNRWA funding. Attendees urged all donor countries to not only restore UNRWA funding but also to increase it given the dire situation in Gaza.
UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 with a mandate to provide relief to Palestinian refugees. The refugees were the result of the UN division of Palestine and the subsequent well documented Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and preventing them from returning despite international law and UN resolutions that enshrine their right of return. While the Palestinians and their cause are political, UNRWA’s role is solely humanitarian and is not political.
Community leaders condemned the Israeli bombing of UNRWA facilities and the killing of more than 150 of its employees. In Gaza, the UN faced the highest level of loss of lives among its employees during a conflict. It is not an accident that Israel targets UNRWA facilities and personnel and tries to dismantle it.
This is Israeli total war on the Palestinians. Community leaders asserted that no self- respecting donor country should be part of this genocidal campaign.
UNRWA is facing an organized campaign, which preceded the current Gaza crisis, from Israeli Zionists and far-right radicals who think dismantling UNRWA magically makes the Palestinian refugees disappear. Leaders pledged to continue dialogue and constructive engagement with UNRWA to assist it during this unpreceded humanitarian crisis that the world has been witnessing for more than five months.
“UNRWA is indispensable to the very survival of the Palestinian refugees, increasingly facing a bigger mandate with a budget not proportionately increased,” said Imad Hamad, AHRC Executive Director. “UNRWA is led by competent humanitarians who take their mission very seriously,” added Hamad. “Until the Palestinian refugee issue is resolved according to international law and UN resolutions, the support to UNRWA should not only continue, but it should also be increased as well," concluded Hamad.