Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh today stressed the need to support the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) during novel coronavirus crisis.
The Prime Minister’s Office said in a press release that Shtayyeh conducted two separate video-conference and telephone meetings with the new UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and the UN Envoy for the peace process in the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov.
Shtayyeh discussed the international support for Palestinian efforts in facing the coronavirus outbreak and ways to alleviate its economic and financial consequences on the government and the Palestinian economy.
He stressed the need for mobilizing international support for UNRWA to be able to play its vital role during this crisis. He as well provided an overview of current Palestinian efforts in refugee camps, whether inside Palestine or in exile, with preventing the spread of the pandemic, especially that most of the houses suffer overcrowding and inadequacy of quarantine conditions.
In this context, Shtayyeh added: “We have received promises of aid, few of which have been translated on the ground and we’re awaiting the rest. We will face this pandemic with a comprehensive national plan covering the West Bank, the Gaza strip, and the Diaspora.”
He also warned of the danger of an Israeli government coalition favoring the annexation of parts of the West Bank and emphasized the importance of an international role to confront such illegal plans that undermine international law and resolutions and threaten to end the two-state solution.
