AMMAN, Jordan, May 24 (UPI) -- The U.N. Commissioner for Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees has pleaded with the international community for badly needed assistance.
Karen Abu Zeid told a press conference at UNRWA's office in Amman Wednesday that the international community should not resort to freezing the salaries of Palestinian Authority employees and stop assistance to the Palestinian people as a means of putting pressure on the Palestinian government led by militant Islamic Hamas.
She warned the deterioration of UNRWA's finances will negatively impact the agency's services to Palestinian refugees, especially in the West Bank and Gaza.
Abu Zeid arrived in Amman from Gaza at the end of a tour of European countries and the United States to discuss assistance for UNRWA.
She said some 120,000 refugees in the West Bank and Gaza have been unemployed since the outbreak of the uprising in 2000 and receive assistance from the agency, in addition to some 160,000 PA employees whose salaries have been retained for three months.
Abu Zeid pointed out that as a result of suspension of international assistance to the Palestinian Authority, some 76,000 families that had earned salaries from the PA were registered with the agency as cases of severe hardship, further aggravating UNRWA's financial problems.
UNRWA offers educational, health and social services to some 4 million Palestinian refugees living in camps in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank.
Abu Zeid urged international donors to meet their financial commitments, noting that at the beginning of the year UNRWA asked for emergency assistance to the tune of $75 million, of which only 60 percent was disbursed.
She said the agency will increase the requested amount to $170 million in view of the continuing deterioration of economic conditions in Gaza and the West Bank.
