UN General Assembly
2022

In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, peace continues to be elusive. Neither war nor diplomacy has held the answer to that historic tragedy. It is the people themselves, not politics and politicians, who will have to come together and push their leaders to resolve it. What would our world look like now if the conflict had been settled long ago, if walls had never gone up and if people had been allowed to build bridges of cooperation instead? What if extremists had never been able to exploit the injustices of occupation? How many generations of young people could have grown up in the optimism of peace and progress? As we continue our efforts to achieve peace, we must not abandon refugees. This year, the General Assembly will vote on renewing the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The international community should send a strong message of support for the rights of Palestinian refugees, ensuring that Palestinian refugee children have schools to go to and access to appropriate medical care.