Frankly Speaking: Can a new global coalition achieve Palestinian statehood?

Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent observer to the UN, has commended Saudi Arabia’s leadership in advancing the two-state solution. (AN Photo)
Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent observer to the UN, has commended Saudi Arabia’s leadership in advancing the two-state solution. (AN Photo)
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Updated 14 October 2024
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Frankly Speaking: Can a new global coalition achieve Palestinian statehood?

Frankly Speaking: Can a new global coalition achieve Palestinian statehood?
  • Riyad Mansour tells Arab News current-affairs program the coalition will pressure Israel to comply with international laws and resolutions to end the occupation
  • Palestinian ambassador to the UN also underscores the responsibility of the international community to take concrete action following ICJ ruling

DUBAI: Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent observer to the UN, has commended Saudi Arabia’s leadership in advancing the two-state solution, stressing that the Kingdom’s efforts, led by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, are pivotal for the future of the Palestinian people.

Appearing on the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking,” Mansour said the international coalition spearheaded by Saudi Arabia is a vital step toward realizing Palestinian statehood and enforcing international law.

The coalition, launched at a high-level meeting during the UN General Assembly, involves key global players, including the EU and Norway.

“We are very appreciative of what Saudi Arabia is doing and the personal involvement of Prince Faisal bin Farhan,” Mansour said.

In the recent UN General Assembly session, Prince Faisal bin Farhan announced the coalition’s formation, drawing participation from a wide range of international stakeholders.

“About 90 countries participated, among them 90 foreign ministers,” Mansour said, adding that the coalition’s purpose is to take concrete steps to pressure Israel to comply with international laws and resolutions, which mandate an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories.




Delegates of member states line up to greet Riyad Mansour, top right, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, as he arrives for the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly last month. (AP/File Photo)

He praised the Saudi leadership for mobilizing this broad international support and noted that the coalition’s next steps would be shaped by an upcoming conference in Riyadh.

“There will soon be a conference in Riyadh in order to adopt the action plan for moving in the direction of taking all the steps necessary in order to either convince or force Israel to comply with this wish that this occupation has to end and it has to end soon to allow for the birth of the two-state solution,” Mansour told “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen.

“Which means the independence of the State of Palestine, because one has been in existence since 1948-1949. The other one is under occupation, and it needs to be independent.

“It needs to be a full member in the UN to have parity and then to deal with all of the details that would lead to the evacuation of the settlements and the settlers and all of the manifestation of this illegal occupation to allow for seeing the two-state solution becoming a reality on the ground. I think we are in the initial stages of all these practical steps.”

He reaffirmed that the two-state solution remains the only viable path to peace in the region, emphasizing the importance of establishing the state of Palestine alongside Israel, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Mansour also stressed the need for Israel to be held accountable for its actions, particularly in Gaza, where some 42,000 Palestinians have been killed over the past year. He underscored the role of international legal mechanisms such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court in achieving this accountability.

Reflecting on the ICJ’s ruling in July on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, Mansour said: “The court did its job and they gave us a historic advisory opinion.” However, he acknowledged the limitations of the court in enforcing its rulings. “The court doesn’t have an enforceability power,” he said.

“The enforceability power is in the hands of the international community — the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Human Rights Council, the Contracting Parties of Fourth Geneva Convention and it is in the hands of national states.”

Mansour underscored the responsibility of the international community to take concrete action following the ICJ’s ruling. “We translated that in the resolution adopted in the General Assembly by saying this illegal occupation has to end as rapidly as possible. It should end within 12 months,” he said.

He called on countries that supply Israel with weapons to halt their support. “Those who provide weapons, they should stop sending weapons to embolden Israel and to allow it to continue with this illegal occupation and this genocidal war against our people in Gaza, among other things,” he said.

Mansour warned that the situation in Gaza is deteriorating rapidly. He also expressed concern that the world may be turning its back on the embattled enclave, despite the severity of the crisis. 

“I hope that, after one year, these atrocities against our people in the Gaza Strip do not become a forgotten subject,” he said.

Mansour reiterated the importance of a ceasefire and humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.




Protesters at a pro-Palestine demonstration in the Netherlands. Mansour called on the international community to take more decisive action to end the conflict and achieve peace. (AFP)

“We hope that that momentum will culminate in putting in place a ceasefire and the beginning of sending humanitarian assistance to the scale needed by our people in the Gaza Strip, and the process of allowing the people of Gaza to go back to the places where they were forced from and to provide them with shelter since winter is approaching,” he said.

Mansour did not shy away from criticizing the role of the US in the conflict, accusing Washington of failing to use its influence to stop the war in Gaza. He argued that the US could have exerted pressure on Israel to halt its military campaign but has allowed the violence to continue.

“The US could have stopped this war a long time ago,” Mansour said, adding that the situation has worsened due to this inaction.

“They could have mustered enough pressure on Israel more than three months ago when President Joe Biden made his announcement of the three stages of dealing with the situation in Gaza, starting with a ceasefire. And a resolution was adopted, 2735. Fourteen countries voted in favor. Nobody voted against it. And we are still not seeing a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”

He added: “And they are now more or less frozen, and the administration is unable to take significant decisions to stop this war.”

Mansour also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using the conflict to advance his political interests.

“I believe that Netanyahu took the American leadership for a ride,” he said, suggesting that Netanyahu is exploiting the conflict to bolster his position domestically and avoid corruption charges.

“And he is, in essence, helping (Donald) Trump to become the next president. And he will wait and see what the result will be after Nov. 5.”

He warned that Netanyahu’s actions could destabilize the entire region, pointing to Israel’s ongoing strikes on Hezbollah targets and its military incursion into southern Lebanon, as well as threats against Iran.

“We condemn this aggression against Lebanon, and it should be stopped immediately,” he said. 

“He created an environment to expand this war even further after what with regard to Iran, because he wants to wreck the entire Middle East if he can, in order to fulfill his selfish desire of remaining as prime minister of Israel and not going to jail because he’s facing four allegations of criminal activities that each one of them is enough to put him in jail.”

Mansour also commended Saudi Arabia for its financial support to the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza, where Saudi aid has been vital in addressing the growing humanitarian crisis.

He welcomed Saudi Arabia’s announcement of monthly financial aid to Palestine, calling it a significant step in ensuring the survival of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation.

“This step is a very significant step in showing that it is not up to Israel to decide the fate of the State of Palestine,” Mansour said, adding that the aid will help counter Israel’s economic pressure on the Palestinian Authority.

Mansour praised Saudi Arabia’s continued commitment to supporting Palestine, noting that its aid has to date totaled more than $5.3 billion.

He said that this support is not just humanitarian but also political, sending a clear message that the international community, led by Saudi Arabia, stands with Palestine.

Mansour called on the international community to take more decisive action to end the conflict and achieve peace. He expressed optimism that the Saudi-led coalition could serve as a catalyst for real change, but stressed that more needs to be done to hold Israel accountable and bring an end to the occupation.




Appearing on the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking,” Mansour said the international coalition spearheaded by Saudi Arabia is a vital step toward realizing Palestinian statehood and enforcing international law. (AN Photo)

Mansour said that global support for Palestine is growing. He called for continued pressure on Israel to comply with international law and for the international community to support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

“As Nelson Mandela said, and it was quoted even by President Biden in his speech at the UN, it is not over until it is over, until it is done,” he said.

“It looks very complicated. It looks that Israel is so belligerent. But when we reach that tipping point where countries, as some of them in Europe, like Spain, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, and others, started to see the light that, for example, admitting the state of Palestine to membership should take place at the beginning of the process, not at the end, as they used to believe.

“All these signs are giving us signals that we are getting very close to the possibility of opening the door to begin to see that this isolation and these practical tools available to all nations and the UN to be used.

“Then they will start giving results to force Israel to change its behavior and to begin the process of ending this occupation, hopefully soon in order to enjoy freedom and independence of the Palestinian people and the occupied land of the state of Palestine and to have the state of Palestine completely free, fully member of the UN, and to end this occupation in that process as well.”

He remains hopeful that the two-state solution can be realized, despite the challenges. “It is complicated, it is difficult, but we have a tremendous amount of help and support, globally speaking,” he said. 

“We will succeed.”

 

 


Israeli airstrikes alter landscape of Beirut’s southern suburbs

Israeli airstrikes alter landscape of Beirut’s southern suburbs
Updated 14 November 2024
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Israeli airstrikes alter landscape of Beirut’s southern suburbs

Israeli airstrikes alter landscape of Beirut’s southern suburbs
  • ‘Current priority is to achieve ceasefire and halt Israeli aggression,’ Egyptian foreign minister says
  • Tayouneh roundabout, marking border between Beirut and Shiyah, has become impromptu refugee camp

BEIRUT: The Israeli army expanded its airstrikes on neighborhoods in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Wednesday, as part of a relentless campaign that has continued day and night over the past 48 hours.

Israel’s policy of maximum pressure against Hezbollah, targeting displaced individuals from the south and the Bekaa Valley, has increasingly resulted in mass fatalities.

Egypt’s foreign minister, Badr Abdel Atti, said during a visit to Beirut on Wednesday that “the current priority is to achieve a ceasefire and halt the Israeli aggression.”

He stressed “the importance of preserving Lebanese state institutions, particularly the presidency, and the necessity of selecting a consensus president for Lebanon, one who is supported by all Lebanese sects and the entire Lebanese populace.”

The office of president has been vacant since Michel Aoun’s term ended in October 2022, as rival political factions have been unable to agree on a successor.

Abdel Atti said: “The resolution of the presidential vacancy should not be a precondition for the cessation of hostilities. It must be a national issue (dealt with by) the Lebanese people.”

During his visit, the minister held long talks with Lebanese officials, the commander of the Lebanese Army, and the grand mufti.

Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes on the suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday night and throughout the day on Wednesday caused significant damage that reportedly altered the very landscape of several neighborhoods.

The most recent attacks struck several suburban areas of the city, including Ghobeiry, Haret Hreik, Bir Al-Abed, and Lailaki. A medical center in Haret Hreik that contained clinics and laboratories was among the buildings completely destroyed. Even cemeteries serving both the Sunni and Shiite communities have been hit, and the Musharrafieh area was targeted for the first time.

The Tayouneh roundabout, marking the border between Beirut and Shiyah, has become an impromptu refugee camp. Residents gather there after being forced from homes they had only recently reluctantly returned to after previous Israeli attacks. Many have exhausted their life savings on temporary accommodation after finding government shelters filled to capacity.

Throughout the day on Wednesday, evacuation warnings issued by Israeli military spokesperson Avichai Adraei sent families fleeing. The realities of the escalating humanitarian crisis were revealed in the resulting scenes: mothers pushing young children in strollers to safety; young men carrying disabled siblings; and entire families seeking refuge in grassy areas where the Lebanese Civil Defense has established emergency shelters.

People endure hours of waiting in fear as the ground and buildings shake from airstrikes, and the pressure waves caused by the explosions spread panic. There have also been reports of strange chemical odors causing respiratory distress.

“Although the Israeli maps (for military action) do not include my house or its vicinity, who can trust the enemy’s plans?” said Fatima, who fled her home in Shiyah and went to the roundabout camp with elderly neighbors.

“Staying home under these Israeli missiles, which exceed human endurance, is madness.”

This feeling of distrust in Israeli evacuation orders appears justified, as some strikes reportedly hit areas considered safe, including locations outside the southern suburbs, with no warning.

A dawn raid on Wednesday struck Aramoun in Aley district, a densely populated area in which numerous displaced families were sheltering. The attack, which destroyed the first and second floors of a residential building, left eight people dead and 18 wounded, some of them critically. Civil Defense and Red Cross teams worked throughout the day to rescue survivors and recover the remains of the dead from the rubble and a nearby valley. Several children were reported missing.

Earlier, an airstrike on a residential building in Joun, in Chouf region, killed 16 civilians, including eight women and four children, and injured 12. Civil Defense teams later recovered a child’s body and the unidentifiable remains of two other people from the rubble.

Israeli raids also targeted several towns in the deep south of Lebanon, destroying houses, shops and other buildings, and the surrounding areas. Meanwhile, Hezbollah continues to target Israeli settlements in northern Israel.

Humanitarian flights carrying aid from Arab nations for displaced people continue to arrive at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport. They included the 23rd delivery of aid from Saudi Arabia, which contained food and medical supplies. A similar cargo arrived on an Egyptian plane, which also brought the country’s foreign minister, Abdel Atti, for his meetings with officials in the capital.

The Israeli army said on Wednesday it had intercepted “two drones that infiltrated into northern Israel from Lebanon.”

Israeli media reported “a tragedy in Lebanon, as seven soldiers of the Golani Brigade were killed following the collapse of a building in a village in southern Lebanon.”


UN Security Council condemns attacks on peacekeeping forces in Lebanon

UN Security Council condemns attacks on peacekeeping forces in Lebanon
Updated 14 November 2024
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UN Security Council condemns attacks on peacekeeping forces in Lebanon

UN Security Council condemns attacks on peacekeeping forces in Lebanon
  • Several UN peacekeepers have been injured in southern Lebanon since a year of skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into fierce clashes in the past month
  • Council members say peacekeepers must never be the target of attacks and urge all involved in the conflict to respect their safety and security

NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council on Wednesday condemned attacks in southern Lebanon in recent weeks in which several UN peacekeeping troops have been injured.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon continues to monitor hostilities in the south of the country along the demarcation line separating it from Israel. A year of skirmishes between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah fighters in border areas have escalated into fierce clashes in the past month.

Israel accuses the UN peacekeeping forces of providing cover for Hezbollah and has told UNIFIL to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon for their own safety. The international force has refused to comply, instead vowing to remain and carry out its mandate along the Blue Line of demarcation between the two countries, which was established by the UN in June 2000. It has issued several warnings that the Israeli army’s “deliberate and direct destruction of clearly identifiable UNIFIL property is a flagrant violation of international law” and UN resolutions.

Without mentioning Israel by name, the 15 members of the UN Security Council on Wednesday urged all parties involved in the conflict to take all possible steps to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and facilities, and said peacekeepers must never be the target of attacks.

The council reiterated its “full support” for UNIFIL, underscored “its role in supporting regional stability,” and expressed “deep appreciation” to the countries that contribute troops to the force.

Council members also expressed “deep concern for civilian casualties and suffering, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, the damage to cultural heritage sites in Lebanon, and endangerment of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Baalbeck and Tyre, and the rising number of internally displaced people.”

They called on “all parties” to abide by international humanitarian law and fully implement Security Council resolutions.


Israeli airforce bombs Syria-Lebanon border

Israeli airforce bombs Syria-Lebanon border
Updated 14 November 2024
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Israeli airforce bombs Syria-Lebanon border

Israeli airforce bombs Syria-Lebanon border
  • A leading monitor said that 15 people had been wounded in the strikes in an area of Syria’s Homs region
  • “Earlier today, with the direction of IDF (military) intelligence, the IAF (Israeli airforce) struck smuggling routes between Syria and Lebanon,” the army said

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said that it carried out air strikes on Wednesday along the border with Syria and Lebanon, with state media in Damascus saying that key infrastructure had been targeted.
A leading monitor said that 15 people had been wounded in the strikes in an area of Syria’s Homs region which is a known stronghold of Lebanon’s Hezbollah although there was no immediate confirmation from Syrian authorities.
Israel rarely comments on its military operations in Syria but it did confirm the strikes which had been first reported by the Syrian state news agency Sana.
“Earlier today, with the direction of IDF (military) intelligence, the IAF (Israeli airforce) struck smuggling routes between Syria and Lebanon,” the army said in a statement.
“These routes coming from the Syrian side of the border into Lebanon are used to smuggle weapons to the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
The Sana news agency said that “the Israeli aggression” on the Homs region had been met with a barrage of anti-aircraft fire.
Citing a military source, Sana said that the Israeli planes had targeted bridges along the Orontes river and roads around the Syria-Lebanon border.
The strikes had caused “significant damage,” according to the source, putting some of the infrastructure out of action, without giving details.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor also said that Israeli military aircraft had hit Syrian bridges and military checkpoints.
Fifteen members of the Syrian armed forces or allied groups had been wounded in the strikes, said the observatory which has a vast network of contacts throughout Syria.
But since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, it has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian government forces and groups supported by its arch-foe Iran, notably Hezbollah troops that have been deployed to assist Assad’s regime.
Israel has carried out frequent raids on highways on the Lebanese side of the border with Syria to cut off potential weapons supplies since a major escalation of its conflict with Hezbollah in September.


How Syrians in war-torn Lebanon are coping with double displacement

How Syrians in war-torn Lebanon are coping with double displacement
Updated 14 November 2024
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How Syrians in war-torn Lebanon are coping with double displacement

How Syrians in war-torn Lebanon are coping with double displacement
  • Syrians face increasing barriers to shelter and aid access in Lebanon due to overcrowding and mounting hostility
  • Lebanon has the highest refugee population per capita globally, hosting 1.5 million Syrians prior the current escalation

LONDON: Syrians displaced to Lebanon by the civil war in their home country have found themselves on the move once again, as Israel’s targeting of the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia has forced more than a million people from their homes.

Many Syrians, unable to return home for fear of conscription or arrest, face a difficult dilemma — whether to ride out the conflict in Lebanon, despite deepening poverty and mounting hostility, or even risk the irregular sea crossing to Cyprus or beyond.

Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been trading blows along the Lebanese border since Oct. 8, 2023, when the militia began rocketing northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas, its Palestinian militia ally, which had just attacked southern Israel, sparking the Gaza war.

However, in September this year, the Israeli military suddenly ramped up its attacks on Hezbollah positions across Lebanon, disrupting its communications network, destroying arms caches, and eliminating much of its senior leadership.

Israeli jets have pounded Hezbollah positions in towns and villages across southern Lebanon and its strongholds in the suburbs of the capital, Beirut, while ground forces have mounted “limited” incursions into Lebanese territory.

More than 1.2 million people have been displaced since the hostilities began more than a year ago, according to UN figures. Among them, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, has identified 34,000 Syrians who have been secondarily displaced since October 2023.

For Lebanese civilians, the conflict has revived grim memories of the devastating 2006 war with Israel and the civil war years of 1975-90. For Syrians, though, the memories of conflict and displacement are even more raw, with the 13-year civil war in their home country still ongoing.

A picture shows smoke billowing from a tissue factory after an overnight Israeli strike on the Lebanese city of Baalbeck in the Bekaa valley on October 11, 2024. (AFP)

Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon took part in the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011, on the side of the Bashar Assad regime against armed opposition groups, thereby contributing to the mass displacement of Syrians that followed.

“Refugees who have fled their homeland in search of safety and security are now facing the reality of being displaced once again in Lebanon due to ongoing hostilities,” Lisa Abou Khaled, a UNHCR spokesperson, told Arab News.

“This double displacement exacerbates their vulnerability.”

UNHCR reported that more than 400,000 people, at least 70 percent of them Syrians, have crossed the border into Syria to escape the escalating violence in Lebanon. However, for many, returning home is not an option.


Rescue workers remove rubble, as they search for victims at the site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, on Oct. 16, 2024. (AP)

The alternative is to remain in Lebanon, where Syrians have reportedly been denied access to work, housing, and services amid the country’s economic crisis, and mounting hostility from Lebanese citizens who believe their own needs have been overlooked.

Rabab, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, spent several nights sleeping rough in Sidon’s Martyrs’ Square last month before locals offered her and her husband a place to stay.

“When we visited the municipality, they refused to register our names and said priority was given to displaced Lebanese families,” Rabab, who is originally from northwest Syria, told Arab News.

“Returning to Syria now is out of the question as I have no family left there, and my husband will face conscription.”

INNUMBERS

• 1.2 million: People displaced by conflict in Lebanon since October 2023.

• 34,000: Syrians in Lebanon who have been secondarily displaced.

• 400,000: Displaced people, 70 percent of them Syrians, who have fled to Syria.

(Source: UNHCR)

The result has been a growing number of Syrian families displaced from southern Lebanon sleeping rough on the streets of Sidon and other cities, with the buzz of Israeli drones and jets overhead and winter temperatures fast approaching.

“Many displaced Syrians in Lebanon, particularly those newly displaced due to recent escalations, face significant challenges in accessing shelters,” Tania Baban, the Lebanon country director of the US-based charity MedGlobal, told Arab News.

Recounting an incident in Sidon, where displaced Syrians had been turned away “due to a lack of shelter capacity,” Baban said: “Municipalities in regions have implemented restrictions, often barring entry to Syrian displaced people, citing overcrowding or security concerns.

Syrian children, who had to fled their country after the outbreak of the war in Syria in 2011 and migrated to Lebanon, are seen in an area where refugees live in Sidon city of Lebanon on October 7, 2024. (Anadolu via Getty Images)

“As a result, some families are sleeping in informal makeshift camps, abandoned buildings, or even out in the open parking lots in Sidon,” she added, stressing that the situation is particularly dire in areas like the capital, Beirut, which was already overpopulated prior to the escalation.

Hector Hajjar, Lebanon’s caretaker minister of social affairs, has denied accusations of discrimination against displaced Syrians. According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, Hajjar said earlier this month that his government was committed to safeguarding all affected groups.

Stressing that “UNHCR appreciates Lebanon’s generous hospitality in hosting so many refugees and understands the challenges this adds at this very delicate juncture,” the UN agency’s spokesperson Abou Khaled called on “all actors to maintain and apply humanitarian principles and allow equal access to assistance.”

“Newly displaced Syrians and Lebanese in several regions tell us that they have had to sleep in the open,” she said, adding that “UNHCR and partners are working with the relevant authorities on finding urgent solutions to this issue.”

Lebanon has the most refugees per capita in the world, hosting some 1.5 million Syrians prior to the current escalation, according to government estimates.

Zaher Sahloul, president of MedGlobal, called on humanitarian agencies to “act swiftly to provide the protection and support these refugees urgently need.”

“Every person, regardless of nationality, deserves to be treated with dignity and compassion during this crisis,” he said in a statement in late September.

Unfortunately, this has not been the case for many Syrians in Lebanon.

Footage has emerged on social media showing the purported abuse of Syrians. In one such video, a man was seen tied to a post on a city street while the person filming claims this was done because people in Syria’s Idlib had celebrated the death of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Meanwhile, some Lebanese politicians have seized upon the worsening situation in Lebanon to advance an anti-Syrian agenda, insisting Syria is now safe for them to return.

Syrian Red Crescent rescuers attend to displaced people arriving from Lebanon at the Jdeidat Yabus border crossing in southwestern Syria on October 7, 2024. (AFP)

Last month, Bachir Khodr, the governor of Baalbek-Hermel, told Al-Jadeed TV that “the reason for the Syrians’ presence is the war in Syria. This war has ended, so they must now leave Lebanon, as the war is here now.”

Lebanon has endured a crippling economic crisis since 2019, which has plunged much of the population into poverty. In recent years, Lebanese politicians have characterized displaced Syrians as a burden on society and called for their deportation.

Despite human rights organizations unanimously agreeing in May that no part of Syria is safe for returnees, a UNHCR report in March highlighted that 13,772 Syrians had been deported from Lebanon or pushed back at the border with Syria in about 300 incidents in 2023.

Children sit in a bus as Syrians who were refugees in Lebanon return to their home country after a five-day journey to the northern Idlib province where they are received at a temporary resting point in the town of Qah, on October 4, 2024. (AFP)

Human Rights Watch also reported in April that Lebanese authorities “have arbitrarily detained, tortured, and forcibly returned Syrians to Syria,” including activists and army defectors.

Disputing the findings, Khodr, the governor of Baalbek-Hermel, argued that the return of some “235,000 displaced Syrians” to their country “challenges the theory that the Syrian authorities might arrest those returning to it.”

“We have repeatedly said that the Syrian side has not harassed any of its citizens who have returned since the start of the voluntary return campaigns in 2018, but rather they have been treated in the best possible way,” Khodr posted on the social platform X on Oct. 8.

However, the UK-based Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that Syrian authorities have arrested 23 individuals who had returned from Lebanon since September.

Syrians who were refugees in Lebanon return to their home country after a journey to the opposition held northern Idlib province through the crossing Aoun al-Dadat north of Manbij, on October 9, 2024. Lebanon became home to hundreds of thousands of Syrians after the repression of anti-government protests in Syria in 2011 sparked a war that has since killed more than half a million people. (AFP)

For those Syrians who have chosen to remain in Lebanon, despite its many challenges, assistance provided by humanitarian aid agencies has become a vital lifeline.

Abou Khaled of UNHCR said her agency “is working relentlessly with humanitarian partners and Lebanese authorities to urgently find safe shelter for those without any.”

“A comprehensive emergency shelter strategy has been shared with proposed shelter solutions in all Lebanese regions and work is ongoing at the cadastre and district levels to implement parts of it.”

She added: “Current hostilities, compounded by the ongoing socio-economic situation, create challenges for all communities, all of whom deserve equal access to safety and dignity.”
 

 


Israel’s ban on UN agency for Palestinian refugees will have ‘catastrophic consequences’

Israel’s ban on UN agency for Palestinian refugees will have ‘catastrophic consequences’
Updated 19 min 39 sec ago
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Israel’s ban on UN agency for Palestinian refugees will have ‘catastrophic consequences’

Israel’s ban on UN agency for Palestinian refugees will have ‘catastrophic consequences’
  • UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini says entire generation of Palestinians will be denied right to an education
  • UN member states urged to consider the effects Israel’s decision on the ‘international rules-based order’

An Israeli law banning the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees will have “catastrophic consequences” that threaten regional stability, the head of the organization warned on Wednesday.

In an impassioned plea to the General Assembly, Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, urged member states to take action to prevent Israel’s move against his organization.

The Israeli parliament voted last month to cut ties with UNRWA and ban it from operating in Israel. The law, which is expected to be implemented within three months, will severely limit the agency’s ability to operate in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, where millions of Palestinians rely on its services.

Meanwhile, the appalling humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, with international aid groups accusing Israel this week of failing to meet US demands to alleviate the suffering.

Lazzarini spelled out the severity of the situation in his address to the General Assembly as he issued stark warnings about the far-reaching implications of the decision to ban UNRWA. He said it would not only cause the humanitarian response in Gaza to collapse but also deal a blow to the international rules-based order under which all UN agencies must operate.

“The risk of the agency’s collapse threatens the lives and futures of individuals and communities, the stability of the region, and the integrity of our multilateral system,” Lazzarini said.

UNRWA, he added, has become another casualty of the war in Gaza, during which Israeli forces have killed more than 43,000 people, the majority of them women and children. He said famine has probably already taken hold in the territory, and hunger and disease are widespread.

“The implementation of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) legislation will have catastrophic consequences,” Lazzarini said.

“In Gaza, dismantling UNRWA will collapse the United Nations’ humanitarian response, which relies heavily on the agency’s infrastructure.”

He went on to highlight the devastating effects the ban would have on education in Gaza, where “in the absence of a capable public administration or state, only UNRWA can deliver education to more than 660,000 girls and boys.

“In the absence of UNRWA, an entire generation will be denied the right to education. Their future will be sacrificed, sowing the seeds for marginalization and extremism.”

Schooling for a further 50,000 children in the West Bank would also be under threat, along with primary health care for half a million Palestinian refugees.

Lazzarini repeated previous requests for UN member states to do whatever they can to halt the implementation of the Israeli ban and maintain funding for UNRWA. He painted Israel’s actions targeting the agency as representing a wider threat to the UN and the multilateral world order under which it operates.

“The United Nations and its staff are in an increasingly untenable position; if the legal and political framework within which we operate does not hold, we cannot stay and deliver,” he said.

Speaking later to the press, Lazzarini said there had been much anger and condemnation in response to the Israeli law and he hopes there might still be some pathway to prevent its implementation. But he conceded this might be “wishful thinking.”

The Israeli law was widely criticized in the region and the wider international community. Saudi Arabia described it as a “flagrant violation of international law and a direct violation of the rules of international legitimacy.”

On Tuesday, the US said Israeli authorities had made some progress in increasing the flow of aid to Gaza and, as a result, Washington would not limit weapons transfers to the country. However, this came as a report published by eight international aid agencies said conditions in the territory were worse than at any point in the war.

Israel claims that some UNRWA staff took part in the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel last year, which killed about 1,200 people and sparked the war in Gaza. The UN reacted by firing nine of the agency’s workers that might have been involved. Lazzarini said the agency has a “zero-tolerance approach” to any breaches of its neutrality.