Jacob Risberg
jacobrisberg.bsky.social
Jacob Risberg
@jacobrisberg.bsky.social
Green Swedish parliamentarian.
Spokesperson on foreign affairs.
Star Wars fan.
Dad.
Thank you for excellent insights and also a nice chat at the lunch. Hope to talk more when you're back in Sweden the next time.
January 15, 2025 at 8:34 PM
2. When will the world put serious pressure on Israel to end this senseless war? The Swedish gov. must do more, NOW, so that no more lives are lost. The Green Party is calling for a permanent ceasefire, the war in Gaza is an unprecedented humanitarian disaster. sverigesradio.se/artikel/spad...
Spädbarn fryser ihjäl i tälten i Gaza – minst sju döda - Nyheter (Ekot)
I Gaza har minst sju spädbarn frusit ihjäl i vinterkylan.Föräldrar har inte lyckats skydda sina nyfödda mot vädrets makter i de fuktiga och ibland översvämmade ...
sverigesradio.se
January 8, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Hela idén med R2P, Responsibility to Protect, försvinner dessutom om det först krävs en juridisk process för att avgöra om krigsbrott, brott mot mänskligheten och folkmord begås.
December 31, 2024 at 9:02 AM
23. But that is not the case, and it shows that we have a weak and right-wing populist government in Sweden that so easily falls for the propaganda of the extreme right-wing Israeli government.
Shame on you, Benjamin Dousa!
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
22. If the Swedish government had simply raised the rights of these Palestinians and put pressure on Israel's responsibility for them when choosing to end support for UNRWA, there would have been at least an ounce of credibility in the government's policy.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
21. both for all Palestinians living in the occupied territories but also to contribute to the right of return or financially compensate the 6 million Palestinian refugees who are currently in Gaza, the West Bank including Jerusalem, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
20. UNRWA continues to exist and is needed because the outside world and Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not managed to find a sustainable solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and because Israel does not take the responsibility it has,
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
19. who are dependent on UNRWA's healthcare, education and other assistance. And when the damned genocide in Gaza has been stopped, and Gaza's schoolchildren are to return to school, who does the Swedish government intend to run these schools?
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
18. And although it will of course have consequences for both the 1.5 million refugees who are there, as well as the other 700,000 to whom UNRWA has contributed to distributing food and supplies over the past 14 months, the decision will also affect an additional 4.5 million Palestinian refugees
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
17. So, back to today's idiotic decision by the government. A week ago, Sweden voted to renew UNRWA's mandate until 30 June 2026, but is now choosing to stop all financial contributions to that mandate. The statements made so far basically refer only to Gaza and UNRWA's work there.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
16. who choose not to do so should be financially compensated for loss or destruction of property.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
15. Having said that, the UN has already stated from the beginning, in Resolution 194, and as reiterated over the years, that the Palestinian refugees have the right to return to their homes and live in peace with their neighbours as soon as possible and that those
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
14. UNRWA does not have a mandate to try to find a permanent solution for the Palestinians, but was formed to provide services while waiting for a permanent solution or the possibility of return.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
13. And UNHCR has a responsibility to try to find permanent solutions for refugees through either repatriation, i.e. returning to their homes, or permanent resettlement in a new homeland (but with the refugee's own consent).
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
12. with a slightly different mandate, and with a fatal difference for the Palestinians. UNHCR is responsible for refugees all over the world, except for the Palestinian refugees who fall under UNRWA's mandate in the five regions where UNRWA operates.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
11. UNRWA does not run these camps themselves since it is not part of their mandate, but is responsible for healthcare, education and other social services.
The problem is that at the same time as UNRWA is being formed, the UN is also working on another refugee agency, UNHCR,
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
10. There are 58 Palestinian refugee camps, eight of which are in Gaza, and in total about a quarter of the Palestinian refugees live in these camps, often in difficult social and economic conditions.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
9. Today, UNRWA is responsible for approximately 6 million Palestinian refugees, of whom a quarter, 1.5 million, are in Gaza. The rest are in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. And it is only Palestinians living in these areas who are covered by UNRWA's assistance.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
8. After the Six-Day War in 1967, the mandate was expanded to also include Palestinians who were forced to flee during these conflicts, and agreements were signed with the State of Israel on access to the refugee camps that were now under military occupation in Gaza and the West Bank.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
7. The mandate of UNRWA, which has changed somewhat over time, has primarily been to provide Palestinian refugees with healthcare, education and various social services, although initially there was a greater focus on the distribution of food and other humanitarian efforts.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
6. UNRWA was formed by a young UN in 1949 in the wake of the persecutions of the spring of 1948 and the war of 1948-49 when more than ¾ of all Palestinians, a total of over 700,000, were forced to flee. Called by Palestinians the Nakba or the catastrophe.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
5. as they do not want the money to be "stuck in an account and unable to reach the field".
But the government does not seem to have understood UNRWA's role and mandate at all. Or they understand but choose to throw millions of Palestinians under the bus.
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM
4. And Minister of Development Cooperation Dousa also says that Israel's upcoming legislation, which in practice prohibits UNRWA from operating in Gaza and the West Bank and which violates international law and Israel's commitments to the UN, has influenced the decision
December 20, 2024 at 1:49 PM