Exhibit in Observance of International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People

An opening ceremony for an exhibition entitled “The Long Journey” will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, 24 November, in the Main Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby.  The exhibit is organized by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and is presented under the auspices of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 29 November.

During the ceremony, remarks will be made by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Ambassador Fodé Seck (Senegal), Chairman of the Palestinian Rights Committee; Pierre Krähenbühl, UNRWA Commissioner General; Annika Söder, Sweden's State Secretary for Political Affairs speaking as Chair of the UNRWA Advisory Commission; and Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations.

“The Long Journey” is a powerful photo exhibition that recounts the life and history of the Palestine refugees since 1948, through a selection of iconic pictures and videos from UNRWA archives.  Included in the show are images of Palestinians forced to leave their homes in 1948; the establishment of camps in the 1950s; the second flight during the 1967 war; the war in Lebanon; and the unrest and hardship from the second half of the 1980s through 2006.

The exhibition focuses on the human tragedy connected to one of the longest-lasting cases of forced migration in modern history and reveals the challenges Palestine refugees have been facing, as well as the ingenuity, resilience and steadfastness with which they continue to respond.

The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is observed in accordance with the provisions of the General Assembly resolution 32/40 B of 2 December 1977.  Detailed information is available at:  http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/solidarity.htm.

For queries, please contact Jasmin Reitzig, UNRWA, at tel.:  +1 212 963 2254.

To view the exhibition, external visitors need to pre-register online at:  http://unexhibitsny.org/upcoming-exhibits.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, please contact Renata Morteo at tel.:  +1 212 963 5455, or e-mail:  morteo@un.org.