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| An UNRWA school in the capital. Proceeds from a concert by Marwan Abado on Sunday in Amman will support UNRWA educational projects in Jordan (JT file photo ) |
By Jonah Shepp
AMMAN - As UNRWA observes the 60th anniversary of its operations this month, the agency is working to raise awareness of the continuing need for its services amid significant financial challenges, UNRWA Director of Operations in Jordan Richard Cook said earlier this week.
At a press conference on Monday with Austria-based Palestinian musician Marwan Abado, who is touring the region next week to raise funds for UNRWA’s education programmes, Cook acknowledged that the agency’s 60th anniversary “is not something to celebrate”, as it is a reminder that the Palestinian refugee crisis remains unresolved.
Instead, he said, UNRWA is celebrating the achievements of Palestinians like Abado, describing him as “a great example of what Palestinian refugees have done around the world”.
Next week’s series of concerts is one of several events the agency is holding this year to commemorate six decades of service to Palestine refugees, through which it hopes to raise badly needed funds as well as awareness of the persistent urgency of its humanitarian mission both in the Middle East and in Western countries, Cook explained.
Fritz Edlinger, secretary general of the Society for Austro-Arab Relations, stressed at the press conference that much work remains to be done to increase the profile of the Palestinian cause and rally support for Palestinian rights in the international arena, particularly in Western countries.
“Everybody’s talking peace, but on the ground, the train is going backwards,” he said. “We have to put pressure on our people to take [the Palestinian issue] seriously.”
Edlinger, whose NGO is co-organising Abado’s tour along with UNRWA, said the purpose of the concert series is in part to remind people of the ongoing plight of Palestinian refugees, and in part to “give some hope and encouragement” to refugees living in the region.
Abado himself told the press that although he has lived in Vienna for over two decades and holds Austrian citizenship, he grew up with, and still holds, a “strong sense of belonging, not to a political programme or party, but to a homeland”.
Born as a refugee in Lebanon, Abado received part of his elementary education at an UNRWA school in Dbayeh refugee camp, according to a statement from the tour organisers.
As a child, the oud player and composer said he was always taught that “education was the only route to a better life”, a maxim he has followed and now seeks to pass on.
He explained that all proceeds from his upcoming concerts in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon will go to support UNRWA’s various educational projects in these countries.
Today the agency serves up to 4.7 million registered refugees. The majority of its 30,000 staff members are teachers working in schools across the Middle East for some 500,000 students, according to UNRWA.
Abado and his band will perform at Al Hussein Cultural Centre on Sunday, May 16 at 8:00pm. Their regional tour will also include performances in Damascus, Aleppo, Sidon and Beirut, the last of which will also be broadcast live in Bethlehem.
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