Corrected repeat
NEW YORK, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- The State of Kuwait has reiterated its commitment towards supporting the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)'s activities through its annual voluntary USD 2 million-worth donation.
This came in a statement on Monday by Kuwait's Permeant Mission to the UN delivered by Deputy Permanent Representative Abdulaziz Al-Jarallah before the UN General Assembly meeting on the donations for the agency.
Kuwait stressed its support for UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl, lauding his clear explanation on the financial conditions facing the agency that hinders its acts serving Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories and host countries in the areas of education, health, social services and others, Al-Jarallah said.
Kuwait underlined the necessity of the international community's commitment to assuming responsibilities in supporting the agency's acts, he added.
He noted that Kuwait calls for necessarily searching for more innovative methods that enable the UN general budget to contribute to covering the cost of the UNRWA's acts.
Kuwait has been keen on backing the agency; it provided donations worth more than USD 169 million either through voluntary contributions to the budget or responses to the agency's urgent appeals, he emphasized.
Kuwait has recently offered USD 15 million, responding to the agency's appeal for enabling 500,000 Palestinian students to continue their study at schools.
"Our country also allocated a sum of USD 50 million to support Palestinian refugees in Syria through the four international humanitarian pledging conferences for Syria over the last four years, three of which were hosted by Kuwait," he said.
In 2009, Kuwait further donated USD 34 million for Palestinians on the Gaza Strip after Israel had demolished 36 UNRWA schools there, he stated.
In the speech, Al-Jarallah reiterated Kuwait's commitment to pledges worth USD 200 million it made during the Cairo Conference on Gaza Reconstruction, held on 12 October 2014, after Israel had demolished a large number of homes and facilities in the densely-populated Strip during its brutal military aggression.
Kuwait has been affirming the Palestinian refugees' right of return to their land in accordance with the 11th item of the UN General Assembly Resolution 194 to enable them to live in peace, he noted.
He reiterated the importance of the international community's calls for concerted efforts so as to put pressures on Israel to implement all relevant international legitimacy resolutions, including UN Security Council ones 242, 338, to help Palestinians live in an independent state through implementing the initiatives and international resolutions aiming to reach a permanent and fair peace in the Middle East. (end) maa.hm