The United Nations agency assisting Palestine
refugees said today that it has received contributions towards its 2003
emergency appeal that will enable it to continue essential emergency assistance
activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.
On 10 February, the head of the UN Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Commissioner-General
Peter Hansen, appealed to the international community not to let the West
Bank and Gaza slide down on its list of priorities as the world's attention
was set on Iraq. At the time, he issued a stark warning that unless immediate
funding was forthcoming, UNRWA's emergency activities in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip would run out of resources and come to an end by late March
- including the feeding of 1.1 million people.
While the Agency remains woefully short of the $94 million needed, the new donations will enable UNRWA to continue with its essential food aid programme. The Commissioner-General said: "While we all welcome this positive development, other pressing emergency needs - shelters for refugees made homeless by shelter demolitions, bolstering of our emergency health services, and enhancing our psychosocial and other services - remain badly under-funded."
UNRWA will continue to appeal for funding to ensure that its services are not interrupted. Contingency plans have been finalized and all UNRWA staff, international and Palestinian alike, and all Agency installations, especially clinics and emergency staff, will continue to operate and deliver urgently needed services.