United Nations Development Program

The United Nations Development Programme released the findings of an extensive damage assessment it conducted of the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip over the past two months. Covering the damage incurred since the beginning of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) operation that began on 28 June to August 27, 2006, the assessment examined physical and material damage to six sectors: municipal infrastructure, housing, public buildings, agriculture, energy and industry. The assessment was divided across 5 distinct geographic areas in the Gaza strip, namely the officially established Governorates: Gaza, Rafah, Khan Younis, Middle and North.

Ronaldo, the Brazilian soccer star, in his capacity as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will visit the West Bank city of Ramallah on 16 May for a first-hand look at UNDP youth and anti-poverty projects in the occupied Palestinian territory, announced UNDP’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP). During his visit to Ramallah, Ronaldo will inaugurate a new Centre for Disadvantaged Youth and will visit several anti-poverty UNDP projects, including UNDP’s “Football Workshops,” which have been designed to promote sport as a forum to teach leadership, confidence, and discipline, based on core principles of tolerance, cooperation, and respect.

Dr. Nabil Qassis, Minister of Planning, and Mr. Piers Cazalet, Acting Consul General of the UK to the Palestinian Authority, and Mr. Andrea Tamagnini, Special Representative a.i, UNDP, will approve a generous grant of £950,000 in support of the Ministry of Planning’s commitment to mainstreaming the issue of poverty reduction in its humanitarian and developmental planning instruments. The grant will kick-start the Palestinian Pro-poor Participatory Planning project to be implemented by the Ministry of Planning in joint partnership with the United Nations Development Programme/Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People.

The Palestinian Authority has open a new court building in Nablus in the West Bank, the first of its kind in the occupied Palestinian territory. It houses two courts: the magistrate court of the Nablus area and the primary court for the northern governorates of the West Bank. Japan contributed US$ 2.5 million for the construction through the UNDP Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People. Izuru Shimmura, head of the Office of the Japanese Representative to the Palestinian Authority, said that Japan aims to support a unified authority with the responsibility for upholding the rule of law.

While a great deal has been said and written about Israel’s Apartheid Wall and its horrendous effects on the lives of many Palestinians, Ireland has formed a partnership with UNDP’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People to ease the isolation of small villages and create micro regional planning committees. A total of 238.3 sq km are being isolated between the Green Line and the Apartheid Wall, 57 percent of which is cultivated, mostly with olive trees and field crops. UNDP proposed emergency assistance that aims to address their needs.

The UNDP Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People is appealing to the international community for US$18 million in emergency aid for communities affected by Israel’s construction of a series of walls, fences, trenches and barriers, commonly known as the “separation wall,” in the West Bank.

UNDP has issued a call to the international community for US$18 million in emergency assistance to addres the humanitarian needs of the communities most affected by the construction of Israel’s apartheid wall.