The United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) will mark its 60-year anniversary on Friday, an occasion for “sober reflection” but also an opportunity to highlight its activities over six decades, the agency said on Thursday. Activities marking the occasion will take place in New York, Vienna, Brussels and Beirut, but the main commemoration will take place in the West Bank city of Ramallah with the release of 60 blue balloons. “The blue balloon is a symbolic motif that represents UNRWA, a protective moon that has accompanied the Palestinian refugees throughout their exile,” the agency said in a statement. Each balloon will contain a message from a Palestinian child and the release of these balloons is a “symbol of hope, rising over obstacles and uniting those who have been separated and scattered,” the agency said. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency was established by a U.N. General Assembly resolution in December 1949 and has served four generations of Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East. It was originally envisaged as a temporary agency to cater for refugees until a Palestinian homeland was established. The agency currently serves 4.6 million Palestinian refugees. One-third of these are housed in 58 refugee camps in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The remaining two-thirds of the registered refugees are housed in towns and cities in the host countries as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
