“We all, members of the United Nations, have a responsibility to support the Palestinian people who are living under occupation and living in such hardship.”

On January 24, 2008, U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and U.S. Consul General Jacob Walles visited the UNRWA Aida Camp Girls School in Bethlehem to meet with UNRWA officials.  After the meeting, Under Secretary Burns spoke to the Palestinian press.  The full transcript of the interview is provided below:

CG WALLES: Good morning everybody. I think you all know Under Secretary of State, Nicholas Burns. He is a long-standing friend, has served in Jerusalem before, so he is very familiar with the issues here. We just had a very good visit and I want to thank UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and their leadership for hosting us here today in Aida camp. We have a few minutes. I want to turn this over to the Under Secretary.

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Thank you very much. Ahlan Wa Sahlan. Sabah al khair. It is a pleasure for me to be here at Aida Camp. I have not been in Bethlehem in a long time. I want to say first of all, how much we support the United Nations and what UNRWA is doing in this camp as it does throughout the West Bank and Gaza, in Syria, in Jordan and in Lebanon. I think we all, members of the United Nations, have a responsibility to support the Palestinian people who are living under occupation and living in such hardship.

The United States will continue to be the leading financial supporter of UNRWA. UNRWA has made a new appeal for funds to support the camps and we have just provided $40 million to that. We will in the next few weeks be providing more money, because we believe in the work that UNRWA is doing and we believe that Palestinian children should be educated. We believe that Palestinians should have dignity. We believe that the wall that we see just across the way itself, is such a negative symbol of the problems of this part of the world. We also hope that some day there will be a Palestinian state. An independent Palestinian state where the Palestinians can rule themselves; they can live themselves in dignity and that is what our government and many other governments are supporting.

President Bush was just here in Bethlehem with Secretary Rice. President Bush supports the creation of that state. We will work as hard as we can for it. I was able to speak to the director of UNRWA in Gaza and the director of UNRWA in the West Bank, and we are very proud of what they are doing. They are operating under difficult circumstances. They need the support of the international community. So we would hope that not only would the European Union continue its funding of UNRWA, because the United States will continue. We hope the Arab world, particularly, the countries of the Gulf, will now come forth with additional funds to support the Palestinian people and support UNRWA because there is nothing more important for peace than that kind of gesture from outside. So it is a pleasure to be here. I really appreciate your coming out so early. I would be happy, if you have any questions, to answer any questions.

QUESTION: There are a lot of funds for UNRWA. Do you think this money can remove the suffering of this wall for the kids who are studying in this school?

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Well, you may know the answer to that question better than me. But I guess I would say that we understand that what the United Nations does, we who are part of the United Nations, is to help reduce suffering or to help people cope with the problems of the occupation and to help people provide an education for their children and provide health care and provide the other necessities of life. But ultimately, it is only going to be peace and the resolution of the problem and an independent state here in Palestine that is going to resolve the problem. So I think UNRWA is necessary. In fact it is absolutely indispensable and has been for 58 years. We support UNRWA. But, obviously, we want to see peace and I was telling our friends from UNRWA: We would like to see UNRWA go out of business someday, because we would like the Palestinians to be able to run their own affairs and have the freedom as well as the capacity to provide for their own people.

QUESTION: 7,600 new houses will be added to the settlements around Jerusalem. What do you think after President Bush’s visit to Israel and Palestinians - Israeli attacks continue. What do you think?

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: I would be happy to say one word about this, thank you for your question and ask the Consul General as well. I think that you know the position of the United States and that everyone should be working for peace. Shortly after the Annapolis Conference when there was news about some construction at Har Homa, you saw the United States react very strongly against that. And obviously we want to see a situation develop where there is a road towards peace and both the Palestinian Authority and Israel head down that road and make a final peace.

CG WALLES: President Bush spoke about this when he was here. He pointed out, as we know, that the road map has obligations on both sides. One of the Israeli obligations is to end settlement activity. So, that is something that we expect that Israel will do, just as we expect that the Palestinians will live up to their obligations as well.

Thank you.

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Shukran

Photos from the visit