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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (9720)	9/28/2003 2:02:54 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793782

Interesting news. Note how, despite the European and Arab "love" for the poor, poor, Palestinians, when it comes time to pony up money for UNWRA only the US paid anything: UNRWA to cut aid to Palestinians in half By KHALED ABU TOAMEH The United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) announced on Thursday that it will have to slash assistance to more than half the Palestinians it helps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip because of severe budget shortfalls. Peter Hansen, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, told donors at a meeting in Amman, Jordan, that the lack of response to an emergency appeal for funds would result in the agency not meeting even half the refugees' needs. Last June, the agency appealed for emergency assistance of $103 million. However, only $38m. has been pledged, $31m. of that coming from the United States. As a result, food distribution, housing, education, and health programs run by UNRWA will now be scaled back in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. According to Hansen, UNRWA was able to implement only 12 percent of its program aimed at providing shelter to thousands of Palestinians whose houses have been demolished by the IDF since the beginning of the current conflict. He said that only 17% of the needed cash assistance for impoverished refugees has been distributed and only one-fifth of remedial education has been delivered. A planned distribution of shoes and school uniforms to 70,000 refugee children has been canceled. "Currently 60% of our appeal is not funded. I think the international community must consider not only the humanitarian consequences of this, but also the psychological, social, and political consequences of not meeting even half of the refugees' needs," Hansen said. Since 1948, UNRWA has provided assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, including more than 1.5 million in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. jpost.com