Roland Friedrich
@grfriedrich.bsky.social
120 followers 51 following 110 posts
Director of UNRWA Affairs for the West Bank, including East Jerusalem
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grfriedrich.bsky.social
Families should be allowed unhindered access to their lands to harvest their olives in safe conditions. @unrwa.org calls for full protection for Palestinian farmers, communities, and all those participating and supporting this year’s olive harvest.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
The olive harvest is the primary livelihood for tens of thousands of Palestinians, with olive trees deeply rooted in Palestinian heritage and identity. Attacks against it threaten the very way of life for many Palestinians, and further deepen the coercive environment in the West Bank.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
The 2025 olive harvest season has started across the #WestBank, at a time when settler violence against Palestinian communities, including the agricultural sector, continues unabated. This week alone, hundreds of olive trees have been uprooted or destroyed by settlers.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
For 70 years, UNRWA has educated Palestinian girls, equipping them with skills for life. As the world marks thirty years since the Beijing Declaration, UNRWA in the West Bank renews its commitment to safeguard the futures of #PalestineRefugees, including girls. #Beijing30
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Of the 48,000 students enrolled in @unrwa.org schools in the West Bank, more than 60% are girls. These girls will one day grow up to become women, serving their communities as doctors, lawyers, scientists, developers, journalists, teachers and politicians.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
This #DayOfTheGirl, we honour the resilience of all girls on the frontlines of crisis, especially those forcibly displaced in the northern #WestBank. More than 6,000 girls remain uprooted from their homes, with their education disrupted and their futures uncertain. Yet, they refuse to give up.
Reposted by Roland Friedrich
unrwa.org
UNRWA @unrwa.org · 16d
In the occupied #WestBank, Palestinians are facing the worst displacement crisis since 1967.

Amid escalating violence, UNRWA continues to serve 920,000 #Palestine Refugees, keeping schools, clinics, and vital aid running.

Learn about our work: www.unrwa.org/resources/fa...
Reposted by Roland Friedrich
unrwa.org
UNRWA @unrwa.org · 21d
In the northern West Bank, operation ‘Iron Wall’ continues, with some 32,000 residents of #Palestine Refugee camps unable to return to their homes.

UNRWA is leading the emergency response and delivering health, emergency education, waste management, and cash assistance.

#UNGA80 #UNRWAworks
grfriedrich.bsky.social
This #BackToSchool, we are proud of our students and teachers who continue to show resilience in the face of hardship. We wish all children a school year filled with excitement for learning, friendships, and curiosity.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Regardless, UNRWA continues to be the second-largest provider of education in the West Bank after the Palestinian Authority, reaching students through schools, training centres, and hybrid learning modalities.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
In #EastJerusalem – for the first time in our history – we have been obstructed from opening our six schools after their forcible closure by Israeli authorities in May, affecting some 800 children. Only some of these students have been able to enrol in other schools.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Last year, I marked the beginning of the school year with children in #JeninCamp. Now, those same students have been forcibly displaced from their homes and our schools in the camp stand silent. Of the 30,000+ Palestinians displaced in the northern West Bank, more than one in three are children.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Today, some 46,000 Palestine refugee children will be started the school year in @unrwa.org schools across the #WestBank. Amid heightened violence and displacement, our schools provide safe havens for children to learn, delivering both quality education and support for their wellbeing.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
In partnership with the Palestinian Ministry of Labour, UNRWA delivered four rounds of Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance to more than to 4,300 Gazans in the West Bank between April and July 2025, helping to cover their most basic needs.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Uncertain of their own futures and fearing for their loved ones in Gaza, support from @unrwa.org is a lifeline. Thanks to the Qatar Red Crescent Society and the Qatar Fund for Development, UNRWA has been able to provide these vulnerable Palestinians with emergency cash and psychosocial support.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Thousands of #PalestineRefugees from #Gaza – labourers and medical patients with their accompanying family members – remain stranded in the #WestBank since October 2023, unable to return to their homes and without a regular source of income.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Our staff remain our strength and our inspiration. Today, we ask you to honour their service by ensuring they remain safe and supported, their work remains funded, and that the rights of Palestine refugees continue to be protected through service delivery in accordance with the Agency’s mandate.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
With international staff forced to leave in January this year under protest and #EastJerusalem schools forcibly closed, UNRWA colleagues have been tested like never before. Shrinking #humanitarianspace and a deepening funding crisis have posed existential threats.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Working for their own communities, many of our staff are themselves forcibly displaced or have lost their homes. Yet, day by day, they #StayAndDeliver education, healthcare, protection, food, waste management, and – most importantly – hope to vulnerable Palestinians.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
This #WorldHumanitarianDay, we pay tribute to the dedication and resilience of @unrwa.org staff who persevere in their work supporting #PalestineRefugees in the #WestBank under impossible conditions.

UNRWA's Palestinian staff carry the mandate of the Agency on their shoulders.
Reposted by Roland Friedrich
unrwa.org
UNRWA @unrwa.org · Aug 8
At a time when the #WestBank is witnessing heightened violence and heavy movement restrictions, UNRWA’s summer camps provide spaces for children to play and learn.

Like around 8,600 girls and boys, Sara took part in sports and art activities.

See what she has to say. 

#UNRWAworks
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Awdah was more than a victim: he was a voice. In the below article, he describes whis childhood under the Israeli occupation, having watched bulldozers enter his community as a child. And how now, as a father, he tried to shelter his children from this cruel reality. www.972mag.com/umm-al-khair...
In Umm al-Khair, the occupation is damning us to multigenerational trauma
I saw the first bulldozers arrive in my village 17 years ago. Now, after the most brutal weeks in our history, my son will carry similarly painful memories.
www.972mag.com
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Awdah was a father to three small children, a teacher, and a strong advocate for his community. He dedicated his life to protecting it. I extend my sincere condolences to his family and his community, and call for accountability for this senseless act of violence.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
Sadly, his death is not a solitary event, but part of an insidious pattern of unrestrained Israeli settler violence and the suffocation of Palestinian herding communities. Humanitarian actors, including @unrwa.org are increasingly constrained and denied access to protect those most at risk.
grfriedrich.bsky.social
I have had the privilege of visiting Umm al Kheir, and it is there that I met Awdah Hathaleen, who introduced me to the community and the extremely difficult situation it was facing due to the neighboring settlers. Yesterday evening, it was one of these Israeli settlers that shot and killed Awdah.