UNRWA Appreciates the DPR RI’s Commitment to Support Humanitarian Missions in Palestine

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — The United Nations Work and Recovery Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) appreciates the commitment of the DPR RI in supporting humanitarian missions in Palestine.

Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Agency (BKSAP) DPR RI, Fadli Zon, in a written statement received in Jakarta, Wednesday (27/3/2024) said that this appreciation was conveyed when he held a bilateral meeting with UNRWA Director Marta Lorenzo Rodriguez and UNRWA Chief of Staff Ben Majekodunmi on the sidelines of the 148th World Parliament Session (IPU) which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, 23-28 March 2024.

UNRWA is an agency that provides education, health, social services and emergency assistance to four hundred thousand Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Fadli said, in the midst of the humanitarian crisis in Palestine which is increasingly worrying, it is very unfortunate that many large countries have decided to no longer provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

“Indonesia, in this case, is committed to continuing to provide support to Palestine through parliamentary diplomacy efforts which have been carried out by the DPR RI in various world parliamentary forums,” said Fadli. According to him, the bilateral meeting discussed various challenges faced by humanitarian organizations in carrying out their humanitarian missions in Palestine, especially amidst the blockade of humanitarian access carried out unilaterally by Israel.

Fadli said that Ben Majekodunmi, who had just returned from Gaza, told about the worrying conditions in the form of acute hunger in Gaza. Where many babies and children cannot get food, many of them even die of starvation.

Apart from that, the lack of access to clean water is also the biggest challenge in the field. UNRWA has never faced a humanitarian crisis situation as bad as this in Gaza before, therefore, Ben hopes that the world parliament gathered at IPU will be able to unite in pushing for political commitment to ensure safe humanitarian access in Palestine.

“The actions taken by Israel to obstruct the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and various areas in Palestine are barbaric and inhumane acts. “The DPR RI strongly condemns this action, especially in the midst of acute hunger conditions and the high need for medicines and medical equipment in the middle of the month of Ramadan,” said Fadli.

On March 25 2024, the UN Security Council (DK) adopted a resolution asking Israel to stop its attacks on Palestine and immediately implement a temporary ceasefire, as well as encourage the release of hostages. In the midst of pessimism about peace efforts in Palestine, it is hoped that this resolution will be able to provide safe humanitarian access in Palestine.

On this occasion, Marta Lorenzo also said that so far the distribution of humanitarian aid in Palestine has been carried out by air which is considered ineffective. Because it is prone to damage, destruction, and poses a very high security risk for refugees due to Israel’s barbaric attacks targeting aid recipients.

Responding to this, Fadli said that so far the Indonesian people have been persistent in showing their solidarity with Palestine through various humanitarian donations, both through national zakat institutions such as BAZNAS and other civil-based humanitarian institutions. He further hopes that cooperation between Indonesian zakat and infaq institutions and UNRWA can be realized.

“As a Muslim-majority country, Indonesia has enormous opportunities for zakat and this has been proven by how many of our people channel their zakat and donations to help the Palestinian people. The suffering of Palestine is our shared suffering,” said Fadli.

Indonesia, he said, would not remain silent watching the Palestinians face a humanitarian crisis like the current one. So, it is Indonesia’s obligation to continue to increase our humanitarian assistance to Palestine through UNRWA.

Fadli also reiterated that the DPR RI is committed to optimizing parliamentary diplomacy efforts to support Palestinian independence and help alleviate the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinian people. Especially, through humanitarian aid channeled through international organizations that uphold the principles of neutrality and impartiality such as UNRWA

source: Antara