Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2024 March 27 - April 2 [WORLD]

Motomura: UNRWA role in Gaza is essential

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Motomura Nobuko on March 29 said, “The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) plays a vital role in Gaza where genocide is taking place and the threat of starvation is spreading, and it cannot be replaced by other agencies.”

She made this remark during an exchange of views held between UNRWA Commissioner-General Philip Lazzarini and cross-party Dietmembers in the Diet building.

Lazzarini said that over the past five months, more children died in Gaza than in all conflicts between 2019 and 2022 in the world, and that Gaza is in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. He stressed the need to promote a two-state solution as this is essential to bring about peace in the region, and called on the Japanese government to actively work on the two parties to opt for that option.

Japan has suspended its contributions to UNRWA on the grounds that several UNRWA staff members were allegedly involved in the October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel.

The JCP has been calling for the swift resumption of the UNRWA contributions. At a meeting of the Upper House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense on March 29, JCP lawmaker Yamazoe Taku demanded that Japan resume its funding to UNRWA without delay.

Past related article:
> Motomura demands that Japan resume its contributions to UNRWA [February 22, 2024]