It is 80 years since the first meeting of the United Nations opened on 10 January 1946 at the Methodist Central Hall in London. Fifty one nations came together seeking a way forward for a better future out of the devastation of the Second World War.

It’s not perfect but it’s what we’ve got to work with and when the President of the US declares that there is no such thing as International Law and believes he can do whatever he likes, even to invading countries which are allies, it is more important than ever that it continues its work.

In Gaza, where Israel continues its attacks on the civilian population, relief organisations have been banned for continuing their work by the occupying force. UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. It provides crucial support and aid in Gaza, The West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel, is a member of the United Nations, however, the Israeli Parliament banned UNRWA. This is a first in the history of the United Nations and international law. It contravenes the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, to which Israel adheres.

At the end of 2025 Israel announced that it would ban 37 International Aid Agencies from working in Gaza and the West Bank. This shocking turn of events is disastrous for the long suffering Palestinian people and is more evidence of the Genocide taking place.

On 12 January, Israeli forces entered the UNRWA Jerusalem Health Centre, demanding the removal of UN signage. On the same day, a temporary closure order was issued against the Health Centre effective for thirty days. Simultaneously, UNRWA received notices that the electricity and water supply to UNRWA facilities in occupied East Jerusalem would be cut within fifteen days. – UNRWA situation report 204.

It is easy to feel so disempowered by these announcements and the descent into inhumanity that you can wonder what can you possibly do that makes any difference.

In Orkney people have been coming together every Saturday since the end of October 2023 on the Kirk Green, Broad Street, Kirkwall, from 1 to 2pm. The vigils are filmed and here at The Orkney News we report them. The films and reports are seen by Palestinians in refugee camps, and Orkney’s small vigils give them hope. They know that even as far away as Orkney is to Palestine, people are aware of the devastation to their lives and the genocide taking place.

The Butterfly effect definition: a situation in which an action or change that does not seem important has a very large effect, especially in other places or around the world, Cambridge Dictionary.

Amnesty Orkney and Orkney Friends of Palestine hold regular meetings and host events. Many of those we have covered in The Orkney News. Orkney Friends of Palestine has Palestinian produce which they sell. The money raised goes to help people in the Shufat Refugee Camp, or the children supported by Hope and Play.

Helen Keller said:

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

And it is true of the people gathered in Orkney on the Kirk Green as it is of countries which continue to meet in the United Nations hoping for Peace because to do nothing, to give in to those who would ignore International Law is to descend into an abyss, the likes of which we have not seen for 80 years.

Fiona Grahame