UN:International aid to the Palestinian territories must be accompanied by an easing of restrictions imposed by Israel if living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza are to improve, the head of the UN agency responsible for assisting Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East has said during a visit to Dublin. Mary Fitzgerald, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, reports.
Speaking a day after international donors pledged more than €5 billion in aid to boost Palestinian development efforts, Karen Koning AbuZayd, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said the lifting of such restrictions would have a far greater effect than any amount of funding.
"There's no question of this. A lot of people at the Paris donor conference mentioned it - restrictions have to be lifted, otherwise all this money will mean nothing. When you see what's happening in the West Bank, it really is very frightening, because it is being chopped up into small pieces. And it makes you wonder where can be the viable Palestinian state if people can't move from one part of the West Bank to the other."
Ms AbuZayd said the past year had been particularly challenging for UNRWA due to the deteriorating situation in Gaza - under an Israeli economic blockade since Hamas wrested control in June - and the destruction of the Nahr al-Bared camp in Lebanon following fighting between Islamic militants and the Lebanese army.
The agency, which provides food, clothing, education and healthcare to about 4.5 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, faces the daunting task of rebuilding the camp which was home to some 30,000 people. "That budget is probably going to be bigger than any other we have ever put forward," Ms AbuZayd said. "We have to build a whole new camp because it is just piles of rubble at the moment."
Describing the current situation in Gaza as "grim", Ms AbuZayd said UNRWA has only been allowed bring in basic foods and medicines. "This is simply not enough. Most of our beneficiaries - which is about 80 per cent of Gaza now - have been living on the same ration for seven years. We're beginning to see a stunting of the children's growth because that isn't a good enough diet."
This year Ireland increased its funding for the agency by 27 per cent, meaning the Government will donate €3.8 million annually for the next three years. Minister of State for Overseas Development Michael Kitt announced yesterday a further donation of €500,000, which Ms AbuZayd said would go towards the construction of a teacher training centre in the Khan Yunis area of Gaza. She said the threat of growing militancy was of concern.
"If you isolate people and punish them all the time, then you drive them into extremism and that is what we have seen happening. It's certainly a challenge for us because of what we have to deal with as a result . . . If this goes on and on, it could become a major problem."