Solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal has made it her mission to save the UN agency UNRWA, which allowed her family to “live with dignity” after leaving Palestine decades ago. “I have no shame in saying that, thanks to UNRWA, today I am the person I am. »
Sitting at her desk in the National Assembly, Ruba Ghazal finds in the photo gallery of her phone an image of her as a child with her sisters and her mother, Huda. Scrolling a little further, she comes across a photo of a faded cardboard box, folded in the center and dated a quarter of a century ago. We can read the first names of the Ghazal family and the words “ UNRWA — TEMPORARY REGISTRATION CARD » (temporary permit).
Since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has provided support services to all Palestinian refugees scattered across the Middle East. East. It operates in the Gaza Strip, but also in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
Myassar Chamma, M’s grandmotherme Ghazal was able to benefit from the help of this organization by fleeing to the land of cedar almost 80 years ago. The MP’s mother followed, as did her uncles, by going to the UNRWA training center in Sébline, a suburb of Beirut. “It’s always been part of the landscape in my family,” emphasizes M.me Ghazal in interview with The duty.
” Disgusting “
It was therefore with astonishment that the MP for Mercier learned that Ottawa was cutting its funding from this United Nations organization at the end of January, due to alleged links between certain employees and the October 7 attacks in Israel. That day, several countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, announced that they were temporarily stopping the payment of their financial aid to the UN agency.
On the social network He at the same time launched an investigation into the supposed links of these 12 UNRWA employees with Hamas operations. “I found it disgusting,” says M bluntly.me Ghazal. I found that we just wanted to follow the United States, quite simply. Stupidly, without asking questions, without thinking. »
In an unusual outing for an elected member of the Quebec Parliament, this descendant of a long Palestinian line implores the federal government to reverse its decision. “I understand that there are 12 people who are suspected of having participated [aux attaques] », continues the Montreal elected official. “Rotten apples”, according to her. “But how many employees are there at UNRWA? There are tens of thousands of them. »
A tool for “living with dignity”
The UN office employs around 30,000 people across the Middle East, most of them Palestinian refugees themselves. Around 13,000 of them work in the Gaza Strip, and nearly 60% of the organization’s budget goes to education, its website says. According to its director, Philippe Lazzarini, two million people depend on its services.
Upon her arrival in Lebanon, Ruba Ghazal’s grandmother was provided with food by the organization, says the MP. Then all his relatives benefited from the education he offered. “These are essential services, a lot in education. There are also healthy ones,” explains M.me Ghazal. His mother also taught at what she called “the UNRWA school” in Sébline.
According to the elected representative, the organization allowed her family to “live with dignity”. “They had the basic services that allowed them to survive, to work, to have an education. So that, later, they can educate children and future generations, of which I am a part,” she says. If she hadn’t left Lebanon at such a young age, Ruba Ghazal would “probably be [allée] in these schools,” she emphasizes.
Without UNRWA, she would probably never have become an MP – or even a Quebecer –, adds Mme Ghazal. Thanks to the services of this UN office, she says, her family has benefited from “a boost […] to be able to aspire to better.”
“Inhuman, thoughtless”
From her MP’s office, she directly calls on the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, to resume funding the agency as quickly as possible.
In a recording obtained by CBC News this week, Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, parliamentary secretary to Mr.me Joly in Ottawa, strongly criticized his government’s decision to stop supporting the organization. Ruba Ghazal encourages the minister to listen to him. “They had the opportunity to make another choice,” she said. I hope, through my appeal, that they will be made aware of the situation. »
UNRWA says it may have to end its activities soon if funding does not resume. “I find it inhumane, I find it thoughtless. “It’s a break from Canadian tradition,” adds M.me Ghazal, recalling that the International Court of Justice called on the Israeli state last month to take “immediate measures” to prevent any possible act of “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
“How can Canada, with all this, say “we are stopping the aid”? They are being complicit in Israel’s war crimes. And perhaps one day, when we know the decision of the International Court of Justice, he will have been complicit in genocide. It’s extremely serious,” she fumes.
In addition to calling for a repositioning of the federal government, the elected representative urges the Quebec government to “unblock emergency aid”. “I also ask him to put pressure on the federal government to reverse its decision,” she said. According to her, the future of millions of Palestinians is at stake.