U.N. short of funding for Palestinians

NEW YORK, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The United Nations agency aiding Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza is facing a 2008 funding shortfall of $1.21 billion.

The deputy commissioner general of the agency says pledges from 22 donors at a meeting in New York Dec. 4 added up to 20 percent less than the organization needs to provide humanitarian assistance to more than 80,000 refugees next year, the United Nations reported Friday.

"It's a bad situation which becomes worse, and for which we seem to get less resources rather than more resources, to address," says Filipi Grandri of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency.

Grandri says Israeli actions have hampered his agency's work and stifled economic activity.

He called Israeli policy that includes economic sanctions, the closure of borders in Gaza and checkpoints across the West Bank counterproductive.

"One must keep in mind that Gaza is controlled by an enemy entity, a terror group, Hamas, which continues to fire rockets and attack crossing points," said a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry.