Queen Rania’s Entreaty for the Palestinian People at the World Economic Forum

Whilst Queen Rania of Jordan attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this past week, she elucidated the audience with the plight of the Palestinians torn with political and economic turmoil, and said: “This week, Gaza was plunged into further darkness and despair. Gaza’s children are crying out for heat, light, food, safety, medical care, and most of all peace. Already, they have lived through more horror, fear, and heartbreak than we can possibly imagine. Broken promises will not help them.”

Using a schematic of statistics, the queen reminded the prestigious guests about the educational losses for girls and mothers still dying in childbirth. Rania entreated the assembly to galvanize into action and declared: “It is time to move from promise to performance. It is an emergency. It is unfolding all around us. And it needs our attention right now.”

Resolute in finding a peaceful solution, the king and queen of Jordan desire to rectify the grave situation in Gaza. A few days before coming to the WEF, the queen visited some patients from Gaza that had come to the King Hussein Medical Center for treatment under the Royal ‘makruma’ of King Abdullah II. As Rania’s compassion for Gaza’s civilians poured forth, she said: “We all sympathize with our people in Gaza, and we need to use our sadness as an impetus for change…the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip is heartbreaking. People there are being deprived of so many of the necessities that we take for granted…and I fear that this situation can get worse. We need to mobilize, and coordinate our efforts to collect aid to send to Gaza.”

Besides addressing the adversities of the Palestinian people at the WEF, Queen Rania inaugurated
“Empowering One Million Arab Youth by 2018.” The program was initiated by INJAZ al-Arab and Rania is the regional ambassador. The INJAZ is “a confederation of national operations working with 10,000 corporate volunteers to train Arab students through exciting hands-on programs in work readiness, in partnership with ministries of education.” The objective for the initiative is “to support the work readiness skills of high school students across the Arab world.” The queen also partook of other sessions offered at the WEF including “Girls Count” and "Corporate Global Citizenship in the 21st Century."

Photos: REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (SWITZERLAND), Associated Press/Peter Dejong, Associated Press/Nasser Ayoub, Jordan Royal Palace, HO, Associated Press/Freud Communications, Ursula Meisser, Associated Press/Michel Euler