A+ A-

UNRWA chief "deeply shocked" by despair in Gaza

WASHINGTON, March 1 (KUNA) -- Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) said Tuesday that he is "deeply shocked" by the worsening conditions inside Gaza, but thanked Kuwait for its USD 15 million contribution which allowed schools in the Strip to reopen after the 2014 conflict. Speaking at the New America think-tank to shed light on the status of Palestinian refugees, Pierre Krahenbuhl said there is "clear and indisputable" evidence that the Israeli blockade, which came into force in 2007, has caused an "intolerable situation" for 1.8 million people living in one of the most crowded places on earth. Organ failure among children and the "increasing rate of suicide" among the population is not natural in society, he said, but rather a "man-made situation." He added: "If there is one thing in short supply -- it is hope." The 900,000 people in Gaza - a "large majority" of whom are "highly educated" - now depend on UNRWA for food aid, Krahenbuhl revealed, stressing the lack of job prospects and the need for the agency to "continue service delivery" to ensure young people in particular do not fall through the cracks.
"The mobilization and the solidarity that was shown last summer when we faced [a funding shortfall], that Kuwait came in with USD 15 million for the core education programs and core services, was one of the contributing factors to overcoming the crisis and actually being able to open the schools," he said. "I went to Kuwait -- and thanked them from the bottom of our hearts because it really meant the children were not out of school -- thinking about other things. And right now with so many risks in terms of radicalization levels, I think it's very important," Krahenbuhl went on. The agency currently employs 30 thousand staff members across the areas where it serves Palestinian refugees: Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Therein, UNRWA operates 700 schools. By US standards, that makes it the third largest school system after New York and Los Angeles, he noted. When UNRWA posted an ad in Gaza seeking 150 new teachers, 22,000 "qualified applicants" stepped up, Krahenbuhl said, illustrating the scope of unemployment.
Those who were hired have "high engagement [and] motivation," he noted, adding that the "positive energy" of the children in the schools is also unparalleled. Students of UNRWA schools regularly "outperform" their peers in the region by a whole year, Krahenbuhl said, and marveled at the resilience of young people who have lost homes, parents, and limbs to a never ending conflict, but continue to succeed academically. Despite its "extraordinary contribution" to human development in Gaza, Krahenbuhl called it "painful" that UNRWA still needs to exist, 66 years after its creation. The agency was initially intended to last a year, following the forced displacement of at least 700,000 Palestinians upon the creation of the state of Israel. Worldwide, there are now some 5.2 million Palestinian refugees, and the number of Syrian refugees is catching up to that figure. 60 percent of Palestinian refugees inside Syria have been displaced since the uprising began there in 2011, Krahenbuhl said, while another 20 percent have left the country altogether - most likely through Turkey. But Palestinians are in the "unique" situation of having no country to go back to, and the international political community's "failure" is to blame, he stressed, adding: "There is no other way out than a political negotiation." (end) ys.gb