United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

Gaza a Year Later
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by MICHEÁL MARTIN - (Opinion) March 4, 2010 - 12:00am

Last week I visited Gaza, the first European Union foreign minister to do so in over a year. My purpose was very much a humanitarian one, to see for myself the impact of a blockade that has now been imposed on the people of Gaza for some two-and-a-half years and to meet with the courageous and dedicated staff of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), including its director of operations, Irishman John Ging. They play an indispensable role in maintaining vital humanitarian services to the people of Gaza.

UNRWA appeals for more donations to maintain, improve services for Palestinian refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 10, 2010 - 12:00am

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi warned on Tuesday of financial burdens the agency is facing, appealing for 100 million U.S. dollars to support the agency. In a press conference in Jordanian capital Amman, Grandi called for supporting the agency's budget as the current financial support the agency receives does not take into account the increasing number of Palestinian refugees.

Israeli forces disrupt UNRWA chief's farewell
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli police ordered outgoing UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd to leave an East Jerusalem home on Thursday during her last official visit as the head of the relief agency. Ma’an’s reporter on the scene said AbuZayd left after police gave her five minutes to evacuate the premises of the house of the Al-Kurd family, as a Palestinian woman yelled "We want our homes and our lands. We have no alternative."

Peace must begin with the plight of Palestine's refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Karen Koning Abuzayd - (Opinion) December 8, 2009 - 12:00am

Sixty years ago today the United Nations general assembly voted into existence a temporary body known as UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. UNRWA's task was to deal with the humanitarian consequences of the dispossession of some three-quarters of a million Palestine refugees forced by the 1948 Middle East war to abandon their homes and flee their ancestral lands. Just two decades later, the six-day war generated another spasm of violence and forced displacement, culminating in the occupation of Palestinian territory.

UAE donates 2.5 million to struggling UNRWA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of the UAE ordered the donation of 2.5 million dollars to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, marking the donation for Palestine refugees in the Near East, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported Thursday. In his statement accompanying the donation, Al-Nahyan said it represented his government's unwavering and continuous support to the Palestinian people.

UN to teach children about Holocaust in Gaza schools
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - October 4, 2009 - 11:00pm

The United Nations' refugee agency is planning to include the Holocaust in a new human-rights curriculum for pupils in its Gaza secondary schools despite strident opposition to the idea from within Hamas. John Ging, the UN Relief and Works Agency's (UNRWA) director of operations in Gaza, told The Independent that he was "confident and determined" that the Holocaust would feature for the first time in a wide-ranging curriculum that is being drafted.

Palestinian refugee agency appeals for more aid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
September 24, 2009 - 11:00pm

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA appealed on Thursday for more aid from international donors to help alleviate a "grave" financial crisis it faces as it marks its 60th anniversary. Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, UNRWA's chief was joined by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's Queen Rania in appealing for more international assistance for the agency dealing with the humanitarian side of one of the world's longest running refugee situations.

Hamas slams UN over 'Holocaust classes' in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
August 29, 2009 - 11:00pm

Hamas condemned the United Nations on Sunday, saying it planned to teach Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip about the Holocaust – but the UN agency which runs schools in the enclave would not confirm any change. Branding the Nazi genocide of the Jews "a lie invented by the Zionists", the Islamist movement which runs the Gaza Strip wrote in an open letter to a senior UN official that he should withdraw plans for a new history book in UN schools.

'Hamas may get claws into Gaza aid'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz, Herb Keinon - July 23, 2009 - 11:00pm

Increasingly concerned that Hamas will steal money donated for Gaza's rehabilitation, the Defense Ministry distributed a document this week revealing that unions affiliated with the terrorist group have set up joint committees with UN agencies that dispense humanitarian aid. The document was distributed to the Foreign Ministry, Finance Ministry and the Israeli intelligence community, and was also sent to the United States to warn it that the $900 million it has pledged to help rebuild the Gaza Strip could fall into Hamas hands.

Rights groups decry restrictions on Gaza trade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - June 17, 2009 - 11:00pm

A can of humous from Gaza is a rarity anywhere in the world, Oxfam spokesman Mike Bailey said as he added his voice to a group of 36 aid organizations, who along with the UN on Wednesday protested Israel's two-year-old "blockade" of the Strip. "I was in Gaza," Bailey said at a press conference which was symbolically held in a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) warehouse in Jerusalem that supplies Palestinian refugees. As he held up a small can of humous from Gaza, he added, "I brought you something that only someone with an international passport can carry out."