RIYADH, 11 September 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has given instructions that 100 new housing units should be built in the West Bank city of Hebron. The units will cost SR23.6 million and represent an effort to alleviate the sufferings of homeless people in the conflict-torn region.
The United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) said that the housing project would be financed through the Saudi Committee for the Relief of the Palestinian People.
“The new housing project will improve the living conditions of widows and their families,” said Dr. Saad Al-Harithi, chairman of the Saudi committee. Dr. Al-Harithi who also serves as an adviser to Interior Minister Prince Naif, said that the project would be completed within the next two years. He said Prince Naif, who heads the Saudi aid agency, had reaffirmed full support for the people of Palestine.
A statement issued by the UN-HABITAT said that the new houses would be allocated among the underprivileged section of the Palestinian society. The project will be implemented by the Special Human Settlements Program of UN-HABITAT in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the Palestinian National Authority and local Palestinian NGOs.
To date, the Saudi committee has financed more than 36 relief and humanitarian programs in the Palestinian territories in cooperation with a number of UN, international and regional organizations. The UN-HABITAT and the Saudi aid agency will soon sign a memorandum of understanding to commence work on the project, according to the statement. Only a few weeks ago, Saudi Arabia donated SR172.5 million to Palestine as part of Arab financial assistance.
In June this year, the Kingdom offered a donation of about SR10 million to buy food for 50,000 of the worst affected families in the Palestinian territories.
The action came days after the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were becoming destitute. The Saudi committee donated the funds to WFP to buy nearly 5,000 metric tons of food and make the necessary arrangements for food distribution.
The Saudi committee also signed a memorandum of understanding with WFP here last Tuesday for providing SR18.7 million in financial assistance to Lebanese affected by the recent war. The Saudi aid agency has also provided SR3 million in assistance to the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for the rebuilding of schools in Lebanon. This is in addition to SR3.75 million in medical aid channeled through the World Health Organization (WHO).
