UN aid agency calls for more financial support to Palestinians

UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) called here Tuesday for more financial support to Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, underlining that although 60 per cent of them fall below the poverty line, aid programs have had to be cut back drastically because of the low response to appeals for donations.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen told a news briefing at UN Headquarters that despite a 25 per cent malnutrition rate in Gaza and a rate almost as high in the West Bank, the Agency had had to cut back on food distribution.

Hansen also deplored that 12,700 people were made homeless by Israeli demolition of houses and that his agency had only been able to replace 228 homes. As for health care, UNRWA had provided only $750,000 in aid out of a projected $2.7 million in needs.

Commissioner-General added that the separation barrier Israel was building had cut farmers off from their harvests and had isolated some towns, warning that the total effect could be a further downward spiral in West Bank conditions.

Unless support for UNRWA activities was translated into solid financial backing, the Agency would "fall further behind in its efforts to lessen the pain of the effects of violence" on the Palestinian refugees in the region, Hansen underlined.