Jerusalem, 16 July 2007: - The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, has issued an urgent call for US$30 million in aid for Gaza, as the borders remain shut for all but humanitarian aid and food supplies. About half of the requested aid is planned for direct-hire job-creation programmes for thousands of workers and the rest for cash assistance to help the neediest families buy food and other basic commodities, and shelter and housing repair projects.UNRWA's Commissioner General, Karen AbuZayd, blamed the violence in Gaza, as well as the "tight closures imposed by Israel", for the "deteriorating humanitarian situation. The economic deterioration manifests itself among the population in Gaza in the form of unemployment, which is running at around 36 percent, and poverty, which is nearly 90 percent – to give just two examples," AbuZayd said in a statement. Some observers say unofficial unemployment runs much higher. The recent violence in Gaza destroyed thousands of buildings and "people are living in dire conditions", AbuZayd said. However, with the borders closed, even if the money is raised, the problem remains how to get the building supplies into the area.
UNRWA, which looks after more than 800,000 people out of the 1.5 million in Gaza, has been forced to lay off refugee labourers as cement and other materials needed for ongoing projects have not been allowed in through Gaza's tight border crossings. "We have to believe the borders will open," Irishman John Ging, UNRWA's Gaza director, told IRIN, adding that the alternative was "too bleak to contemplate". He said if industries in Gaza continue to fold, leading to economic collapse, a "doomsday scenario" might unfold in the Gaza Strip.
"We are sounding the alarm bells, as the decisions made now have long-term repercussions. We must put lives above political interests," said Ging, who added that the dividends of economic development in the longer term would be peace and stability. The call for aid was issued on 15 July in Cairo in a meeting between AbuZayd and Amr Musa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, and is directed at the Arab world.
UN officials noted that the United States, European Union and other western countries were the largest donors to UNRWA, while many Arab states gave little aid to the agency, even though indirect aid was substantial. Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, as well as the Palestinian Authority, host about three million refugees and set aside land for displaced people’s camps.
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