Sabbagh: Syria has not and will not spare any effort to stand by the Palestinian people in their struggle to restore their rights

New York (ST): Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh, reiterated that Syria has not and will not spare any effort to stand by the Palestinian people in their struggle to restore their occupied lands and their legitimate rights, stressing that the responsibility to preserve the rights of Palestinian refugees is a non-negotiable matter.

In a statement before the UNRWA Donations Conference, Sabbagh said that the Palestinian issue remains the central issue of Syria.Syria has not and will not spare any effort to stand by the brotherly Palestinian people in their struggle to restore their occupied lands and all their legitimate rights, especially their right to establish their independent state on their land with Jerusalem as its capital, and for Palestinian refugees to obtain their rights to return to their homeland in accordance with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, foremost of which is Resolution No. 194 of 1948.

Sabbagh explained that during the past decades, Syria provided all the requirements for a decent life to the Palestinian people, who have taken refuge in it, but the difficult economic conditions that Syria has been going through for a decade as a result of the terrorist war and the coercive measures imposed by some Western countries on it have limited its ability to respond to the needs of the Syrians and the Palestinians alike.

Ambassador Sabbagh indicated that terrorism’s destruction of a large part of the infrastructure and vital sectors in a number of Palestinian camps calls for the urgent need to rehabilitate these sectors, which we hope will take place as soon as possible, including schools and health care centers, and UNRWA restores its headquarters and offices to resume managing activities through them, which is essential to be able to work on the ground efficiently.

Sabbagh pointed out that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees “UNRWA” was established after the Palestinian people’s catastrophe in 1948 and it was a temporary arrangement to help the Palestinians until they were able to return to their homes, but the suffering of this people prolonged and deepened and its effects expanded, and the Palestinian refugees became at the mercy of the donor countries and the interactions, therefore, UNRWA remains the permanent and final pillar of the international community’s commitment to the Palestinians’ right to a dignified life and their right to a just and lasting solution to their plight.

K.Q.