UNITED NATIONS: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai has announced that she is donating $50,000 to rebuild an UNRWA school (in Israeli-occupied Gaza) damaged during the recent fighting, a spokesperson for the organisation said in a statement here on Wednesday.

Ms Yousafzai made the announcement from Stockholm where she has gone to accept the prestigious World’s Children’s Prize. According to a statement, Ms Yusufzai said: “We must all work to ensure Palestinian boys and girls, and all children everywhere, receive a quality education in a safe environment because without education, there will never be peace. Let us stand together for peace and education because together we are more powerful.”

The UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krähenbühl expressed his gratitude to Malala and said: “UNRWA shares with you the profound belief in the importance of education as a means to lift young girls and boys out of isolation, exclusion or oppression.

Acquiring skills and knowledge to improve prospects for the future is profoundly engrained in the Palestinian consciousness. I wish therefore to accept your generosity and solidarity with deep gratitude and humility, on behalf of UNRWA itself, on behalf of all of our education staff in Gaza and on behalf of the children of Palestine.

“You have become a symbol of the boundless potential that lies within each and every child on earth. You are an inspirational figure to the next generation in Palestine and beyond. You are an inspiration to all of us.”

Published in Dawn, October 30th , 2014