On November 4, the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN gave an intervention at the Fourth Committee of the Seventy-First Session of the General Assembly on Agenda item 49, dedicated to the “United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).”

In its statement, the Holy See extended prayers and condolences to the families of UNRWA workers killed while providing humanitarian aid and discussed the financial and humanitarian woes that affect more than five million Palestinians. It described the work of various Catholic agencies that, like UNRWA, care for those affected, particularly the internally displaced and refugees, who are subject to heinous crimes. The Holy See thanked Lebanon and Jordan for their collaboration with UNRWA in caring for those fleeing Palestine, Iraq and Syria and called for international assistance to both countries to deal with the millions of refugees in their territories. Instead of violence and war, there must be peacemaking and substantive dialogue, the Holy See stated; instead of the floods of weapons, there must be the influx of accessible humanitarian assistance.

The statement can be found here.