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Monday, May 30, 2016
UNRWA suspends services in northern West Bank refugee camps for a day

UNRWA suspends services in northern West Bank refugee camps for a day
May 30, 2016 2:21 P.M. (Updated: May 30, 2016 3:10 P.M.)
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771680

NABLUS (Ma’an) -- Palestinian refugee camp committees in the occupied West
Bank announced on Sunday evening that the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) had suspended its services in the
northern West Bank refugee camps, amid an ongoing dispute over changes in
aid distribution.

A spokesman of refugee camp committees in the northern West Bank, Husni
Odeh, told Ma’an that UNRWA had officially notified the refugee camp
committees of its decision to suspend services until further notice.

The decision, he said, affects the education and health services provided by
UNRWA in refugee the camps, although Odeh added that waste collection wouldn’t
be suspended.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness confirmed to Ma’an that UNRWA had suspended
some of its services in the West Bank for one day only following what he
called “violent threats and intimidation against our staff.”

Odeh said that representatives of Palestinian factions affiliated to the
Palestine Liberation Organization in the Nablus area would hold a press
conference on Monday to announce their position on the recent dispute
emerging in the wake of UNRWA replacing its food distribution program with a
cash card system.

In April, the UN agency decided to halt its food distribution program in the
camps and replace it with a cash card system, causing concern among UNRWA’s
Palestinian employees, who said the move jeopardized the jobs of 300 to 400
people who work at the organization’s distribution centers.

“It is disappointing at a time when the refugees themselves are so
enthusiastic about the move from food handouts to the e-card, that certain
groups are issuing threats and interrupting UNRWA services, particularly
when the new system represents a significant increase in the assistance
being delivered,” Gunness told Ma’an on Monday.

“After 50 years of Israeli occupation, it is tragic that a further denial of
rights and dignity is being heaped on a dispossessed people by elements from
within their own communities,” he added.

Instead of the $111 per year that had been provided to refugees in the form
of a food basket, UNRWA’s new program would provide $130 per year via cash
card, in four cycles annually, to some 36,129 people, according to the UN
agency.

On Saturday, the refugee camp committees announced that they would escalate
protests measures against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees starting on
Thursday, aiming to target UNRWA social affairs offices and directors'
offices in the West Bank, and block movement of UNRWA cars in all areas.

Earlier this month, Gunness said that the transition to the cash card system
were “still ongoing with close follow up from the highest levels in both the
PLO and PNA (Palestinian Authority).”

Odeh confirmed to Ma’an the protest measures were not taken against the
decision itself, but that the committees were excluded from the
decision-making process.

Close to 775,000 Palestinians are registered as refugees to the UN in the
occupied West Bank. UNRWA provides services in 19 camps in the Palestinian
territory.

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