UN Agency Temporarily Suspends Services in Palestinian Refugee Camps Over Violence and Threats 

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), a UN agency solely dedicated to treating so-called Palestinian refugees, is suspending its activities in refugee camps in the Shechem (Nablus) area for a day due to threats and violence their staff encountered from the same Palestinians to whom they provide services.

The Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported that Palestinian refugee camp committees in the Samaria area announced on Sunday that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) had suspended its services in the refugee camps, amid what they termed as “an ongoing dispute over changes in aid distribution.”

The UNRWA is replacing its food distribution program with a cash card system.

A spokesman for the committees, 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 for one day only following what he called “violent threats and intimidation against our staff.”

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 claim the move jeopardizes 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.

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, and block movement of UNRWA cars in all areas.

Close to 775,000 Palestinians are registered as refugees with the UN, decades after any armed conflict in the area has eneded. UNRWA provides services in 19 camps in the Palestinian controlled territories.

The UNRWA has been under attack by the Palestinians in the past, and the offices in Gaza were shut down several times due to Palestinian violence.

By: United with Israel Staff

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