Grandi’s
lecture was his last official speech, as he has chosen to give a speech
at the most renowned seat of learning in Palestine. - See more at:
http://www.birzeit.edu/news/lecture-commissioner-general-unrwa-filippo-grandi-birzeit-university#sthash.HkOugntK.dpuf
Annie's note: I blogged this very important speech by Filippo Grandi,
UNRWA Commissioner-General, by selecting main crucial points that are
direct sequential quotes from the text of his lecture at
Birzeit University, interspersing his words with illustrations that
might help an outsider better understand the situation... and the very
real plight of the Palestinians.
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| UN Resolution 194 from 1948 : The refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date... |
"In a region plagued by wars, some stemming indeed from the events of 1948, Palestinians have been a people living in crisis. Stateless, dispersed, occupied, caught in conflict; in the many permutations of their plight, there has always been the denial of rights, security, needs and wants; and for those living it, this reality becomes an unchanging norm."
"Like many others, I already thought that to have followed this conflict from afar meant to know it. But I knew little. It was only when I arrived in Palestine that I started learning about the depth and complexity of the conflict. And it was one aspect of it - one of which, up to that moment, I had only a very abstract idea - that struck me most. It was the extent, gravity and seeming irrevocability of the injustice which the Palestinians had suffered, and continued to suffer."
"Ordinary people had to contend with the multiple difficulties created by the occupation, by poverty, often by violence. They were overwhelmed by those problems. They had to save the valuable energy of their resilience to address them, day after day."
"When I arrived in Palestine, I could also observe first-hand the deep and physical scars of conflict, which were everywhere, much more than I ever thought. "
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| Grandi's lecture, his last official speech, was given at Birzeit University, one of the most renowned seats of learning in Palestine |
"The perversion of this situation is that the illegal, colonial enterprise of Israeli settlements flourishes; and meanwhile, Palestinian entrepreneurs, firms and businesses are deprived systematically of their rightful access to land, water, transport, and markets. These conditions are a lethal threat to the Palestinian economy, and to Palestinian livelihoods."
"In my years at UNRWA, I have heard numerous interlocutors define the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or more specifically the impasse to negotiations, as a status quo. This gives the impression of a static situation, and of course, it is not. The alleged status quo is in fact constantly spiraling downwards, and every day that passes erodes the norms and boundaries of international and human rights law that are needed to support a just solution of the conflict."
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| "Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt |
"For Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, foreign military rule cuts into all spheres of life, posing an existential threat to society. And it is, again, a matter of choices denied: the choices made by individuals that define the self, that allow them and their families to affirm their autonomy and basic preferences in life, which in most other contexts are taken for granted – place of residence, course of study, pursuit of work, relations with family – these daily choices are, for millions of Palestinians, completely restricted by Israel’s vast apparatus of occupation, land expropriation, and relentless growth of settlements, as of course you all know. And all this, in full view of the world."
"In the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million people of whom over one million are refugees, the blockade imposed by Israel is by now longer than the historic blockades of the last century: Leningrad, Berlin, Sarajevo.... The anguish and the collective sense of debasement by now pervading the Gaza Strip are omnipresent, even in conversations with our senior staff, revealing that all sectors of society are affected. And the most affected are the young, and especially the children under 18, who constitute half of Gaza’s population - and are of course its future."
"The UN has projected that infrastructure, energy, and potable water will be inadequate to sustain the population of Gaza by 2020. Gaza’s population is already 59% larger than in the year 2000, but per capita income is 20% lower in real terms, and its unemployment rate constantly rising. Prohibition of exports to its natural markets, Israel and the West Bank, has meant that every sector of its economy has imploded. For most people in Gaza, sadly, the only safety net is humanitarian assistance and yet, even that has become difficult. We at UNRWA are struggling to support the food aid and cash for work programmes which have sustained hundreds of thousands of people in past years. We are told that emergency funds for Gaza (at a time when the emergency is growing in depth and gravity) are becoming scarce."
"Syria is a newer crisis, which has monopolized attention, and has absorbed resources.
And this is not meant to belittle the tragedy of Syria. And within that, the situation facing Palestine refugees in the country, which is nothing short of horrific. We estimate that at least 70% of this population of 570,000 have been displaced, whether inside the country or beyond its borders. It is in fact the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1967, driven by a civil war that has spread over much of the country."
"In a region increasingly unsympathetic and unsupportive, for some there will be no choice in fact but to seek refuge further afield. The war in Syria - among many other consequences - is beginning to alter Palestine refugee geography, with implications that go well beyond the humanitarian, and may have repercussions on the quest for a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue."
"I commented earlier on the lack of faith among Palestinians in the ability, if not intention, of the international community to see justice done to their plight. This is true for the refugees, who, through bitter experience, have learned that relying on international actors to keep promises and fulfill obligations, in a conflict so tragically corrosive to both, can carry a bitter cost."
"Dispossessed and deprived of choices, refugees have struggled to find the support they need on the ground. UNRWA has therefore grown to be somehow an exception: not only an institution providing concrete help, and providing it directly, but also - and partly because of the trust born out of proximity and familiarity - one of important symbolic value. Families and clans reconstituted themselves around UNRWA in the refugee camps, re-forming the patchwork of villages, towns and cities of Palestine from which they were expelled. It was as if the camps were a means to re-create Palestine in absentia, awaiting the end of exile. "
"To some, these facts are proof that UNRWA “perpetuates” the refugee problem. The same people repeat ad nauseam that UNRWA keeps refugees in a state of under-development. I disagree. I disagree, completely. Palestinian refugeehood is kept alive by the lack of a just solution, and such a solution can only be of a political nature."
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| A Palestinian refugee woman collects water for her daily needs from one of the water points in Beach camp, Gaza Strip, 1963. Photo Credit Emile Andria: UNWRA PHOTO ARCHIVE |
"Therefore - and let me say this once more and very clearly - those repeating, in bad faith more than ignorance, that UNRWA is an obstacle to peace are the same people who wish to deny Palestine refugees, and Palestinians at large, those fundamental rights and that basic dignity."
"In Ein El Hilweh, Balata, Jerash, and other camps, I found the same anxiety and questions about the future, about the negotiations and what they might mean for them: familiar sentiments and concerns, perhaps, but now compounded by the deteriorating situation in the region, by the uncertainty surrounding the peace process, and their combined effects on the refugee communities. "
"We may be, however, and as we all know, just weeks away from the unveiling of a framework which is intended to serve as the basis for negotiations leading to a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. US Secretary of State John Kerry has shown remarkable tenacity and skill in the effort to create common ground between parties that seem so far apart in their aspirations, and are so unequal in power and status."
"What I heard in my recent visits to the camps, though, is that despite the diplomatic momentum, Palestinians and especially Palestine refugees are caught everywhere in the grip of cynicism and distrust: and who can blame them for their lack of faith and low expectations in the ability of the international community to deliver a just solution?"
"As it is, after the 1967 war and a series of landmark Security Council resolutions, including 242 and 338, which called for Israel to relinquish territory recently occupied, it did not take long for a broad international consensus to form in support of the two-state principle, and in its wake came the Oslo process, the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, and the Roadmap of 2004. Throughout, summitry at the highest levels has sought to break the impasse. Palestinians have borne witness to this long procession of peace plans, with its long procession of sponsors, to no avail. The conflict, and the special suffering it continues to inflict on them, remain overwhelming facts of their daily life."
"I would like to make some concluding remarks about the refugees, who are after all the largest community in the Palestinian nation, and its most vulnerable since the expulsion in 1948, and who therefore have something to gain through a solution upholding the rights they claim, or everything to lose in a solution that negates them."
"In Israeli and some western media, there is a familiar discourse about Palestine refugees, now taking on special significance. They are cast by some as the chief obstacle to achieving peace; others deny their existence. Here I must disagree again of course. To us at UNRWA, and to me personally, they are resourceful women and men, full of talent and promise. They are a substantial reservoir of human capital capable of contributing to the strength, peace and stability of the region and beyond."
"But they are also people deeply wounded by the traumas suffered in 1948 and since, people denied rightful choices and often excluded from participation in the societies hosting them. They have been caught in vicious cycles radiating from 1948: expulsion, entrapment, and the recurrent impact of other people’s conflicts. I would suggest that these cycles will continue unless and until the refugee voice is heard, listened to, and taken into account as a constituency with distinct claims and rights sanctioned under international law and UN resolutions, and especially resolution 194. Any framework, any agreement that does not acknowledge and recognize this will not be conducive to sustainable peace, and will produce stagnation - or worse, a climate in which violence and radicalism will find space to flourish."
"Today, a dramatic image of Palestinians in Yarmouk is being displayed in New York’s Times Square and in Tokyo’s Shibuya intersection, two of the busiest places in the world. While I’m happy that we can attract attention and, hopefully, resources, to support people in distress, I am saddened by the tragic symbolism carried by this image."
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| Palestine
refugees from Syria have been severely affected by the ongoing armed
conflict, with virtually all of their residential areas experiencing
armed engagements or the use of heavy weapons. Of the total 540,000 Palestine refugees in Syria, almost all require assistance. |
"I walked the devastated streets of Yarmouk and saw Palestinian history repeating itself as expulsion and entrapment, violence and exclusion: the original exile developing into a new and bitter one. That it happened in a previously stable country, hospitable to its Palestinian guests, is powerful evidence of the implacable nature of the forces unleashed by the events of 1948."
"UNRWA, as I have sought to explain, has embodied a commitment of the international community to relieve hardship, and to build resilience. This has been very important, and will continue to be crucial - to refugees, to host communities, to Palestinians at large, and to the stability of this region. There is therefore every reason for UNRWA to be sustained, with millions of insecure refugees in an insecure region relying daily on the Agency. But the sustainability of UNRWA should not be taken for granted: it will require, on the Agency’s part, a prudent use of its scarce resources; and on the part of all stakeholders - donors, hosts, refugees, the Palestinian leadership and Palestinians at large - the strongest possible commitment to its continuation until its services are not needed."
"UNRWA is not, however, a solution to refugee needs, and to their choices. Hundreds of millions are generously contributed to UNRWA each year by the international community, but this amount gives no measure of the true cost of denying the refugees their rightful choices for 66 years. "
"We all aspire to see a Middle East in which its peoples share common interests, a stake in each other’s well-being, and equality of rights and justice. This cannot happen and will never happen under military occupation. And it is not a vision compatible with the continuing denial of rightful choices by people with a legitimate claim to their fulfillment. I trust therefore that the parties to the conflict, and those who facilitate and support dialogue, realize that as negotiations continue, and amidst many other burdens, that of addressing refugee choices in a principled and humane manner is heavy, but inescapable."
"We are not naive. We know that in the search for peace, and for a solution to all the components of the conflict, including refugees, painful compromises are being explored and sought. Precisely because of this difficult quest, I fear that failure to consult the refugees, to hear their choices, and to take these choices into account, will consecrate their exclusion, with negative, and predictable consequences. "
"I do believe, however, that not all is lost; that a recognition of the injustice suffered, and of the legitimacy of their aspirations as rooted in rights and law, will be crucial first steps in including refugees in peacemaking; and that such recognition must be followed by options to be presented to them, to the extent that the difficult realities on the ground will allow. "
"I do believe that this recognition, and these options, will finally put an end to long and painful decades of choices denied; will support self-determination; and will allow Palestine refugees - these proud, resourceful and steadfast members of the Palestinian nation, with whom I have had the privilege to be associated during all these years - to become at long last, and by choice, peacemakers and peacebuilders in this troubled region."
[AS
ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO
READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP
SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and
conversations) THAT EMPOWER
DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE &
PEACE... and hopefully
Palestine]
RAMALLAH, March 22, 2014 (WAFA)
- Choices made, choices denied: a prespective on the question of Palestine
refugees lecture by Filippo Grandi, UNRWA Commissioner-General was delivered
during Grandi's last public address as Commissioner-General on Friday at
Birzeit university, near Ramallah.
Choices Made, Choices Denied: A perspective on the question of Palestine refugees
Lecture by Filippo Grandi, UNRWA Commissioner-General, at Birzeit University
Background Information
UNRWA
is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949
and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of
some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help
Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza
Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a
just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education,
health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and
improvement, and microfinance.
Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 68.2 million.
Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 68.2 million.
For more information, please contact:
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| Mr. Filippo Grandi, UNRWA Commissioner- General and Mr. Florentino Pérez, President of Realmadrid Foundation © UNRWA |
"The education of new generations, who constitute the future, is the essential axis of peacebuilding in the Middle East...With about 700 schools across the Middle East, UNRWA emphasises quality education; access for all refugee children to a sound education; the learning of the principles of tolerance and respect, gender equality and self-improvement..."
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