United Nations agencies and NGOs have launched a US$450 million emergency appeal for humanitarian aid for the Palestinians – the biggest-ever for the Palestinians and the third-largest in the world. So much money is needed because two-thirds of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have fallen into poverty, said Kevin Kennedy, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator. The international boycott on the Hamas-led Palestinian government has crippled the Palestinian economy. International donors say they will only give money directly to the Palestinian people if Hamas recognises Israel’s existence, renounces violence and abides by previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. Read more about $450m humanitarian appeal for Palestinians
The F-16 fighters and Apache gunships may now be absent from the Gaza skies - but that doesn’t help Omar Mohammed Mamlouk and his 18-strong family, living in a tent amid the rubble of their home. The family fled their house in Gaza City’s Yarmouk Street after Mamlouk was called on his mobile by the Israeli military, an officer telling him a missile strike was to be launched on his house. “That phone call haunts me - I think about it 24 hours a day. We are now in the street. We have no shelter. I don’t know where are the human rights organisations or whether they can help us,” he told IRIN. Read more about No solutions for newly homeless
Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on international donors to make up “the current, worrying shortfall” in the budget of the United Nations agency that tends to the needs of millions of Palestinian refugees, with an operational deficit of over $100 million already looming. “Such efforts merit strong support from the international community,” he said in a message delivered by UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Kevin Kennedy to the second annual meeting of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) host authorities and donor governments in Amman, Jordan. Read more about Annan calls on donors to make up for shortfall in UN funds for Palestinian refugees
The United Nations and its partners today launched their largest ever appeal for emergency aid to the occupied Palestinian territory - more than $453 million to help address a rapidly deteriorating situation after donors cut off funds to the Government when the Hamas movement won elections earlier this year. “Two-thirds of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are now living in poverty. Growing numbers of people are unable to cover their daily food needs and agencies report that basic services such as health care and education are deteriorating and set to worsen much further,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator Kevin Kennedy said, noting that children make up about half of the population of some 4 million. Read more about UN and partners launch their largest ever appeal for emergency aid for Palestinians
Greeted by community representatives, the Head of the Middle East Section at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in Ottawa, Ms. Lise Filietrault arrived in Ein el-Tal camp on 6 December for a hand-over ceremony of 40 housing units to Palestine refugee families who have been living in World War II Army barracks in Neirab camp, Aleppo for nearly 56 years. “Thanks to our donors and the strong support of the Syrian Government, UNRWA can help the refugees in Neirab camp with better accommodation and also raise the overall standard of living for the Palestine refugee communities both in Ein el-Tal and in Neirab”, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Syria Panos Moumtzis, told the audience. Read more about UNRWA inaugurates 40 new shelters for Palestine refugees in Ein el-Tal Camp, Aleppo, Syria
In its 6 December report, The Iraq Study Group made three important points regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: 1) there is no military solution to the conflict; 2) UN Resolutions 242 and 338 and the principle of “land for peace” is the only way to achieve peace; 3) hold unconditional meetings to resume negotiations. The group also stressed the importance of an engaged U.S. administration in political negotiations based on a two-state solution. While these recommendations are on target and the significance of the messenger should not be dismissed, the message is not new. Palestinians have long reiterated these points. Read more about Iraq Study Group: No Military Solution to the Palestine Question
The Middle East Peace Process (MEPP) appears to be on the eve of another possible defining moment, this time triggered by the proclaimed cessation of hostilities between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority and the GoI’s call for the resumption of peace talks. In light of the possibility that the EU will consider that these developments constitute a sensitive juncture in the MEPP and that they therefore call for the EU to speak with extreme caution, we would like to convey our hope that the EU will not fail again to publish its report on east Jerusalem this year. Read more about Open Letter to EU urges publication of report
An important commercial crossing from Israel into the Gaza Strip could be re-opened next week, Israeli officials told IRIN, allowing vital food supplies into Gaza. The Karni crossing to the west of Gaza City is the only cargo terminal designed for the passage of large containers into the Strip and as such is vital for food supplies. It has been closed almost constantly since September, according to John Ging, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which feeds 860,000 refugees in Gaza.”There’s no substitute for the [Karni] commercial crossing. There is no comparable alternative in terms of quantity. That is the weakness of the Gaza Strip. We are talking about hundreds of containers,” said Ging. Read more about Vital Gaza food conduit to open, Israel says
The manner in which 14-year-old Mahmoud (not his real name) caught the HIV/AIDS virus was unusual - but the subsequent reaction of Palestinian society was all too predictable. “I got it from a blood transfusion when I was 12. Now, no one talks me. My friends all left me when they knew that I’m AIDS patient. I feel I’m alone in this world. They are afraid to get infected from me, as I was infected, but it is not my fault that I have AIDS now,” said the youngster from the West Bank. “I’ll never finish college. I’ll never have a family like the others. I will never have babies. I also believe that it will not be long before I leave this world,” he added. Read more about No friends, few drugs and little expertise for AIDS patients
Palestinian Layth Ghalib Bedwan, 14, was arrested and detained by the Israeli authorities on 28 August 2006. Since then, his family has waited anxiously for him to return home. “His mother is crying all the time. I contacted all the children’s rights organisations in the hope that they can do something to accelerate the release of my son, but all my efforts were in vain,” said Ghalib Bedwan, 36, Layth’s father. On 9 September, an Israeli military court accused Layth of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, sentencing him to three months in prison, and imposing a US $400 fine on him. Read more about The plight of Palestinian child prisoners
