Lazzarini: Calls for dismantling UNRAWA aims to strip Palestinians of refugee status

GENEVA  (Palestine Foundation Information Center) UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini has affirmed that the calls for UNRWA to be dismantled are aimed at stripping Palestinians of their refugee status.

“All the calls for UNRWA to be dismantled, not only in  Gaza but also in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, have nothing to do with neutrality. Neutrality issues can be addressed,” Lazzarini said in a recent news conference held in Geneva.

“But the objective behind it is clearly to strip Palestinians of the refugee status,” the UNRWA chief added.

“And, basically, we keep hearing that UNRWA is part of the problem because it perpetuates refugee status. It’s as if you say that a humanitarian response in a conflict perpetuates the conflict. What perpetuated the conflict is the absence of a political solution,” he said.