Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Amal Jadou underlined that the international community bears a great responsibility for finding a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue, and imposing international law on Israel, mainly because the rights of Palestinians are based on international legitimacy resolutions and in accordance with international law.
In remarks to Qatar News Agency (QNA) on the 75th anniversary of Palestinian Nakba, which this year coincides with a dangerous escalation by the occupation against Gaza Strip, Dr Jadou said that the Palestinian Nakba has been going on for 75 years under the Israeli governments continuous policies of expanding settlements aimed at expelling the Palestinian people and replacing them with Israelis, noting that the number of settlers in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, has reached 750,000.
She added that the Israeli aggression that is taking place today against the Gaza Strip is part of a series of attacks that have been continuous since the Nakba in 1948; noting that the war waged by the occupation against the Palestinian people takes place everywhere, not only in the West Bank, Jerusalem, or Gaza.
"Wherever we Palestinians are, we are subjected to policies of displacement and ethnic cleansing that target our existence and our rights, and mainly our right to self-determination," she stressed. She believed that there is no solution looming given the occupation's extreme right-wing government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, in addition to the presence of extremist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who do not believe in any political solution.
She described the previous statements of Smotrich, in which he said that he would erase the city of Hawara from the globe, as "another Nakba befalling the Palestinian people."
"We can never abandon international law, we must continue with it, and base our rights on international legitimacy, because this is the equation within the framework of the international community in which we live," she said, pointing to a series of policies undertaken by the Palestinian government to strengthen the Palestinian presence and steadfastness, and confronting the Israeli policies that target its existence.
The Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed that no waiver of the right of return for the Palestinians, saying: "Generation after generation, we will teach our children and grandchildren this right. This right has been recognised for the Palestinians by international law, and the world must impose a solution for the return of refugees to their homes, and the occupation must recognise our right to this land for which our belonging will never end even after hundreds of years."
Commenting on the possibility of ending the work of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Dr Jadou told QNA that UNRWA exists as long as there is no solution to the refugee issue. "Our work in the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to stress the need for UNRWA to exist, whether in terms of authorisation or financial support from the international community."
