The participants in the conference on UNRWA, which concluded its activities in Beirut on Saturday, highlighted the importance of continuing to provide political and financial support for UNRWA and renewing its mandate.

This came in the final statement of the conference, which was held under the theme “UNRWA is an international guarantee for the refugees’ rights.”

The conference was organized by the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad and Association 302 to Defend Refugees Rights, in the presence of officials from UNRWA, the European Union, the United Nations, the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, Arab and foreign missions, Palestinian factions, and Lebanese parties and institutions.

The statement underlined that UNRWA is one of the main witnesses to the displacement of the Palestinian people from their land and their right to return their villages, towns and cities they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.

It also said that the termination of UNRWA is conditional on achieving the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the relevant international resolutions.

The conferees were also unanimous in rejecting the US administration’s position towards UNRWA, especially its decision to cut funding, and stressed the need for international monitoring of the mechanisms used by the agency to run its operations in order to improve the services it provides for the Palestinian refugees.

They urged all donor countries to support the renewal of UNRWA’s mandate, which will be voted on next December at the UN headquarters.