Palestinians demonstrate outside UNRWA building by throwing eggs and burning tires
Headline: “Mass-participant demonstration against UNRWA’s foot-dragging on reconstruction and against the commissioner’s statements”
“Dozens of civilians demonstrated today, Monday [April 25, 2022], in front of the UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) offices in western Gaza City, out of opposition to the policy of foot-dragging on everything connected to reconstructing their homes that were destroyed by the Israeli occupation.
The demonstrators threw eggs at the UNRWA offices and burned tires…
Ramzi Al-Masri, a civilian whose home was destroyed during the Israeli attack in the summer of last year (refers to Fatah/Hamas Riot and Rocket War 2021; see note below -Ed.), told [the independent Palestinian news agency] Ma’an: ‘On the ninth day of the attack, my home in the town of Beit Hanoun was blown up by Israel. This is not the first time it was destroyed; it was already destroyed in 2015, but it was reconstructed.’
He continued: ‘UNRWA promised more than once to reconstruct, but for an entire year we have received no compensation at all, and now we are in the streets. They don’t even pay rent for us.’ …
Al-Masri noted that his situation is difficult, as he is unemployed and has no fixed income. He demanded that the agency expedite the reconstruction of his home.
Democratic Front for the Liberation [of Palestine] (DFLP) Central Committee member Mahmoud Khalaf told Ma’an: ‘The clearest message that we wanted to convey with this activity is that we completely reject the statements of [UNRWA] Commissioner-General [Philippe Lazzarini], regarding the transfer of UNRWA’s roles to a number of international bodies. We interpret this as emptying UNRWA of its content.’ …
Khalaf added: ‘The most dangerous thing about the matter is emptying UNRWA of its political content, which is connected to the right of return and [UN] Resolution 194 (see note below -Ed.). This is very dangerous, and we came to say that we adhere to UNRWA as a clear expression of the tragedy of the Palestinian refugees. We adhere to its role on the level of aid and on the political level.’ …
He emphasized: ‘We will say that we no longer need UNRWA when the refugees will return to their lands, but until that happens, we must keep UNRWA as an international institution whose role is to aid the Palestinian refugees and give them employment.’”
The article includes pictures from the demonstration in front of the UNRWA Gaza Field Office.