UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has told a UN panel that the Israeli legislation to shut down UNRWA, the main lifeline for Palestine refugees in Gaza, will plunge millions of Palestinians into chaos, and called on the international community to throw its weight behind the U.N. agency.
“The demonization and delegitimization of UNRWA must be halted and we must take concrete measures to ensure that UNRWA remains operational and carries out its humanitarian work in accordance with its mandate,” Pakistani delegate Ansar Shah said during a debate in the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization).
The Israeli Parliament, known as the Knesset, adopted two bills earlier this month banning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in its territory and prohibiting authorities from having any contact with it.
“The international community must uphold the principles of justice, human rights, and international law to restore hope and dignity to the Palestinian people,” Ansar Shah, a first secretary in the Pakistani Mission to the UN, said.
Pakistan had strongly condemned the Israeli attempts to dismantle the operations of the UNRWA as” flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international law, provisional measures: set by the ICJ (International Court of Justice) and the Court’s Advisory Opinion of 19 July.
Shah highlighted the grave concerns of millions of Palestinians’ that the Israeli move would cutoff essential public services on which their lives depend such as education, health, and social support.
“The entire population of Gaza fears that their only remaining lifeline will be cut. Without the intervention by Member States, UNRWA will collapse, plunging millions of Palestinians into chaos.
” We have to answer the call of Palestinian people,” the Pakistani delegate added.
He warned that the international order built on the basis of the UN Charter could collapse if the international community did not take concrete actions to uphold the Charter and the international law.
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Reaffirming Pakistan’s steadfast support for Palestinians and their inalienable right to self-determination, he said, “The international community must uphold the principles of justice, human rights, and international law to restore hope and dignity to the Palestinian people.
