[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: In truth, UNWRA is a tool in the ongoing cynical
and oppressive decision on the part of the Arab world with the support of
the rest of the world since its founding in 1949 to make these Arabs
perpetual hostages of an Arab program to destroy the Jewish State via
demographics. The desire to destroy Israel was so great that such basic
universal human rights as the right to employment were subject to sever
restrictions in order to prevent these Arabs from being absorbed in other
countries (like any other refugee). ]

PRESS RELEASE

UNRWA holds pledging conference at UNHQ in New York

12 October 2015
New York

Twenty-two UN member states are planning to pledge US$ 100 million to
support next year’s budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency,
UNRWA, and several more indicated their contributions would be forthcoming
or are pending approval by the respective national parliaments. Donors made
their pledges during a meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee created by the
General Assembly as the main forum to announce donor support for the
65-year-old Agency, which provides educational, health, relief and social
services for some 5 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria,
the West Bank and Gaza. US$ 100 million would cover a part of the basic
needs of the Agency to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of essential
services in education, health, relief. Provided these pledges and other
expected contributions materialise, and thanks to strict internal control
measures, the Agency expects to face a deficit of USD 81 million, lower than
previous years.

In his opening statement, Mogens Lykketoft, President of the United Nations
General Assembly, thanked donor countries for their ongoing support and
their additional efforts in bridging UNRWA’s financial gap. He stressed that
“Against the backdrop of unrest in the Middle East, the devastation caused
by the Syria conflict, the recent clashes in Jerusalem and the West Bank,
the slow pace of the Gaza reconstruction, and the waves of refugees leaving
the region to find shelter in Europe, it is time to change the paradigm:
UNRWA and the rest of the UN needs be strengthened and not weakened. We, the
International Community, have created this Agency to provide decent living
conditions to Palestine refugees. We, the International Community, must
ensure that it has the means to carry out its mandate. It is in the interest
of all of us to make sure this community does not feel abandoned by the
countries of the world.”

Sandra Mitchell, Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA, then said UNRWA was
“emerging from a financial crisis that had been unprecedented in its
severity and in the pain it caused its beneficiaries”. She commended the
tremendous effort and support from partners, including donors and host
governments, thanks to which sufficient funds to address the $101 million
funding shortfall had been secured. She outlined the next phase of dealing
with the financial crisis based on two key actions: “the pursuit of robust
internal efficiency reforms through prioritization, cost efficiency, and
innovative management of limited resources as well as a heightened
fundraising outreach and direct engagement with donors in the region and
elsewhere”.

Ms. Mitchell stressed that “education, including in emergencies, had become
a vital element of UNRWA’s assistance to Palestinians in Syria and
neighbouring countries. Without education and its sense of dignity and hope
for a better life, people would have nothing else to turn to, and many
undertook the perilous journey to Europe and elsewhere”.

Furthermore, she outlined the increasingly grave operational context in
which UNRWA worked and which made the need for its services all the greater.
“The civil war in Syria persisted with relentless barbarity; in Gaza, the
blockade continued to affect every aspect of the population’s lives and
restricted UNRWA’s work; in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,
escalating violence and the denial of rights and dignity under an
increasingly restrictive and destructive occupation regime remained a
powerful driver behind the need for UNRWA services. And in Lebanon, in
addition to the established community highly reliant on UNRWA, some 45,000
Palestine refugees from Syria were in desperate need of its assistance which
continued to decline in the face of financial scarcity”, she said. Ms
Mitchell underlined the vital role played by hosts of Palestine refugees, a
point reiterated also by a significant number of UN Member States present at
the meeting.

Concluding, Ms. Mitchell stressed that the need for partnership and the
financial viability of the Agency would be a collective responsibility.
Until a just and lasting solution was found to the plight of Palestine
refugees, donors had to remain committed to ensuring that UNRWA could
deliver vital services to Palestinians.

Planned pledges:

Sweden: 40 m USD; Italy: 10 m USD; Luxembourg: 3.75 m Euro; Turkey: 1.5 m
USD; Argentina: 15,000 USD; Czech Republic: 123,000 USD; Austria: 1.55 m
Euro; Belgium: 18.75 m Euro (2015-2017); Switzerland: 21 m Swiss Franc; UAE:
1.8 m USD; Korea: 200,000 USD.

– Ends –

Background information

UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions, and financial
support has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by
growing numbers of registered refugees and deepening poverty and conflict.
As a result, the UNRWA General Fund, which supports core essential services
and most staffing costs, operates with a large deficit. UNRWA emergency
programmes and key projects, also operating with large deficits, are funded
through separate funding portals.

UNRWA is a United Nations agency 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 solution to their plight. UNRWA
services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp
infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.

For more information, please contact:

Christopher Gunness
UNRWA Spokesperson
Mobile: +972 (0)54 240 2659
Office: +972 (0)2 589 0267
c.gunness@unrwa.org
Twitter: @ChrisGunness

Sami Mshasha
UNRWA Arabic Spokesperson
Mobile: +972 (0)54 216 8295
Office: +972 (0)2 589 0724
s.mshasha@unrwa.org