<\/p>\n
25 June 2025<\/p>\n
Excellencies<\/span>,\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Members of the Advisory Commission,<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n I would like to<\/span>\u00a0begin by expressing my gratitude to\u00a0Spain\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>for<\/span>\u00a0the strong commitment it has shown as Chair of the Advisory Commission at a time of unprecedented challenges for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I am also grateful to<\/span>\u00a0the Vice Chairs,\u00a0Brazil<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<\/span>Jordan<\/span><\/strong>,<\/span>\u00a0for their steadfast support; and to\u00a0Lebanon<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<\/span>Australia<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>for<\/span>\u00a0their important contributions as Chair and Vice Chair of the Sub-Commission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The fact that this meeting must be held virtually<\/span>\u00a0reflects the dangerous escalation taking place in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n P<\/span>rincipled political engagement by Member States is urgently needed, including by the members of this Advisory Commission in relation to the future of Palestine Refugees.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Excellencies,\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n We are<\/span>\u00a0at a tipping point in the occupied Palestinian territory, which threatens to permanently shift the long-established parameters for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We are witnessing\u00a0<\/span>the implementation of a project, decades in the making, to separate Palestinians from Palestine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In\u00a0<\/span>Gaza<\/strong>,\u00a0two million people ar<\/span>e being starved, while food and medical supplies sit across the border.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It is obscene.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n A<\/span>\u00a0so-called \u201caid mechanism\u201d has been created to replace the principled international aid operation led by the United Nations, of which Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is a critical part.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The new mechanism is<\/span>\u00a0an abomination that costs lives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It humiliates and degrades desperate people,<\/span>\u00a0concentrating them in ghetto-like hubs, from which they can be more easily displaced.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This<\/span>\u00a0is the grotesque culmination of 20 months of inaction and impunity, during which more than 55,000 people have been reported killed \u2013 mostly women and children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n T<\/span>he\u00a0occupied\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>West Bank<\/strong>\u00a0i<\/span>s now under lockdown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Additional r<\/span>estrictions on the movement of people and goods, are intensifying the impact of brutal military operations by the Israeli Security Forces, and rampant violence by Israeli settlers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the north,\u00a0<\/span>Palestinians have been displaced from camps at levels not seen since 1967.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Public infrastructure is systematically destroyed so Palestinians cannot return, and the demography of camps is permanently\u00a0<\/span>altered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Annexation is well underway.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Israeli authorities are<\/span>\u00a0also depriving Palestinians of the most basic rights, including the right to education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A painful example is the<\/span>\u00a0forced closure of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA schools in occupied East Jerusalem, weeks before the end of the school year and without any alternative for nearly 550 girls and boys.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Denying children an education is not only inhumane,\u00a0<\/span>it is illegal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n For Palest<\/span>ine Refugees outside the occupied Palestinian territory \u2013 in\u00a0Lebanon, Syria and Jordan<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/span>it is a time of profound anxiety and uncertainty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the past year, many have<\/span>\u00a0suffered the impact of war, sweeping political changes, and economic hardship.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n T<\/span>hese are not new experiences for this long marginalized and deeply vulnerable population.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n What is\u00a0<\/span>new is the existential crisis engulfing the United Nations agency on which they have relied for generations, at every stage of their lives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Members of the Advisory Commission,<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n So great is the\u00a0<\/span>desire to undermine the viability of a Palestinian State, and to strip Palestinians from their refugee status, that dismantling Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA has become an objective of the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n T<\/span>he Agency is crumbling under the weight of relentless political attacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Israeli legislation against Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0took<\/span>\u00a0effect in January, prohibiting our operations in what Israel considers its sovereign territory \u2013 including occupied East Jerusalem \u2013 and prohibiting contact between Israeli authorities and the Agency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The legislation has effectively expelled international Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA staff from the occupied Palestinian territory.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, our services continue.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here,\u00a0<\/span>I must pay tribute to our local staff, whose courage and determination \u2013 amid arrests, harassment and intimidation \u2013 have allowed the Agency to provide essential services, including education and healthcare, to Palestine Refugees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But m<\/span>any of our colleagues have paid the ultimate price.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nearly 320 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA personnel have been killed in Gaza, m<\/span>any with their families.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n O<\/span>ne staff member was summarily executed while on duty for the United Nations and found near the infamous mass grave of Palestinian paramedics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I continue to call for accountability for<\/span>\u00a0these and other international crimes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In Gaza, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA still provides more than 15,000 health consultations each day.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n We also play a critical role in managing shelters, providing clean water, and removing waste.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n To support<\/span>\u00a0our local staff, we have in place 24-hour remote management and critical incident reporting systems, backed by international staff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This helps to ensure effective coordination and accountability.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The<\/span>\u00a0goal of ending Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s operations also underpins the fierce disinformation campaign spearheaded by Israel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This campaign targets lawmakers and the public in countries that support Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA, strangling our funding for critical services to Palestine Refugees.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n To tackle disinformation, we must<\/span>\u00a0continue to insist that independent, international media enter and report from Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n T<\/span>his is a vital complement to the extraordinary efforts of Palestinian journalists and others who have reported daily, especially through social media, about the atrocities taking place.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Excellencies,<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The\u00a0<\/span>political attacks against Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA are based on allegations that the Agency is colluding with or infiltrated by Hamas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA take<\/span>s allegations of neutrality breaches extremely seriously.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Our\u00a0<\/span>policy on\u00a0Outside and Political\u00a0<\/span>Activities<\/strong>\u00a0make<\/span>s clear that while personal views and convictions are inviolable \u2013 in accordance with human rights \u2013 staff are prohibited from participating in activities or being a member of any militant or armed group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n W<\/span>e do not operate in a zero-risk environment, but we take a zero-tolerance approach to any proven breaches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Independent Review of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s neutrality<\/span>\u00a0conducted last year found that the Agency has a more robust approach to neutrality than comparable entities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Out of the\u00a0<\/span>50 recommendations arising from this review, 20 recommendations will be fully implemented by the end of this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n T<\/span>he remining 30 are all underway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Implementing the recommendations of the Colonna Report remains a priority.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n We will be sharing a report next month on this remarkable progress.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n I know that many of you are particularly interested i<\/span>n progress made on recommendations related to\u00a0neutrality in education<\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In all Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA schools, we use textbooks from host government<\/span>s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n T<\/span>his is best practice in refugee education globally, and allows students to pursue further education and employment more easily.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the\u00a0<\/span>occupied West Bank, this means using textbooks from the Palestinian Authority.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The\u00a0<\/span>Grade 5 Arabic textbook includes a portrait of Dalal al Mughrabi, a Palestinian militant, that does not align with United Nations values.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We raised our concerns with the Ministry of Education multiple times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Last December, I wrote to President Abbas informing him that Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA w<\/span>ould no longer teach the Grade 5 Arabic textbook in our schools.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n T<\/span>he books have been withdrawn and replaced with self-learning materials developed by the Agency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA<\/span>\u00a0continues to work tirelessly to ensure\u00a0staff integrity<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0by<\/span>\u00a0conducting human resource background checks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n