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On June 30, the Director-General of the DPJ International Department Yutaka Banno received a courtesy call from Commissioner-General of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees Filippo Grandi. The meeting was also attended by International Department Vice Directors-General Rintaro Ogata, Mieko Nakabayashi, and Kumiko Hayakawa.
Grandi gave an explanation of the state of affairs in Palestine and the current situation facing Palestinian refugees, as well as introducing the projects being undertaken by UNRWA in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. He emphasized that a resolution to the issue of peace in the Middle East could not be found without dealing with the problem of Palestinian refugees, and said that he wanted to work to increase Japanese understanding of the situation faced by the approximately 5 million Palestinian refugees.
Furthermore, Grandi pointed out that stabilizing the lives of the Palestinians was also extremely important for the stability of the region. In response, Banno said he believed that in today’s global society, events occurring around the world would inevitably have an effect on Japan, adding that he would like to continue to exchange opinions on this issue so that Japan could develop her own independent engagement with it, and to create a close relationship between the DPJ and UNRWA. Banno went on to say that due to the ongoing election campaign it had not been possible to arrange an event to give a large number of DPJ Diet members the opportunity to listen to the Commissioner-General’s explanation, but he stressed that he would inform his fellows of the content of their discussion, and said that as the ruling party of Japan the DPJ would like to liaise with the Japanese government while engaging fully in this issue.
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