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UNRWA officials laud Kuwait's generous support for Palestinian refugees

Director of UNRWA Operations in the   West Bank, Scott Anderson
Director of UNRWA Operations in the West Bank, Scott Anderson

By Nawab Khan

BRUSSELS, March 19 (KUNA) -- Director of UNRWA Operations in the West Bank, Scott Anderson, has praised the support by Kuwait and other Gulf states to the Palestinian refugees in West Bank.
"We have very good relations with the Gulf states, with the Kuwait Fund for Development, the Saudi Fund for Development, the Islamic Development Bank the government of UAE they have all been very generous with their funding to UNRWA," he told the Kuwait news agency, KUNA, in an interview in Brussels on Sunday.
Anderson noted that "Kuwait in recent years has contributed and focused more on the Syrian crisis for which we are very grateful.
There are 300,000 refugees from Palestine living in Syria and the conflict has affected them as much as it has affected anyone else." "Last year the Kuwait government gave five million US dollars to the appeal for Syria to address the needs of the refugees there. We are very grateful for their support and I look forward for continued cooperation with them," he stated.
He explained that the core budget for UNRWA for the West Bank is USD 765 million and there is also an emergency appeal for Gaza and West Bank amounting USD 400 million. In addition, UNRWA is carrying out also some projects like building schools.
He said that for the core budget they are short by USD 115 million. For Gaza and West Bank appeal, they need USD 25 million to continue their activities throughout out the year.
Regarding the policies of the new US administration on Palestine, Anderson who is an US national, said, "we need to wait and see what the policy towards Israel and Palestine will be." The UNRWA official said the purpose of his visit to Brussels is to continue advocacy for Palestinian refugees in West Bank and to highlight their plight and highlight what they face on daily basis and to say thank you for the great EU support to UNRWA.
On Thursday, he addressed a public briefing organized by the European Commission in Brussels on the extremely precarious situation of Palestine refugees in the West Bank.
He noted that in 2016, 102 Palestinians including 31 refugees 16 percent of them children were killed in Israeli security operations and 376 refugees were injured 18 percent of them children.
There are Israeli 70 checkpoints across the West Bank. 613 refugees from a total of 1628 Palestinians were displaced in Israeli demolition in 2016. This is the highest number of structures demolished and Palestinians displaced since the UN began systematically recording statistics in 2009, he noted.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5 million registered Palestine refugees.
Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.
UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, protection and microfinance. (end) nk.mb