RAMALLAH, West Bank,8 April 2007 — The United Nations Relief and Works Agency yesterday said that the agency might stop the emergency assistance extended to 1.2 million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip due to financial shortage. UNRWA spokesman in Gaza Adnan Abu Hassana said in a press release that the situation is “very serious,” explaining that the financial shortage could cripple UNRWA’s crucial aid programs to those refugees.
“If the necessary funds were not extended the soonest then the work and health programs to those refugees would come to a standstill,” he explained. He added that UNRWA’s appeal for $246 million only yielded $28 million or barely 11 percent of its needs.
The Palestinian Authority officials said last week that the United Nations may formally declare the Gaza Strip a dangerous zone — a move that would result in the evacuation of the remaining foreign nationals from the area and drastically hamper international humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
PA security sources said that 25 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip last month in internal fighting. Another four were killed in the West Bank, the sources added.
“We’re moving very quickly toward such a scenario,” said Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee and a close aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“The Gaza Strip is full of thugs and gangsters who are responsible for the ongoing anarchy. Soon the Gaza Strip may be declared a dangerous zone, which means that all international organizations would have to leave.”
Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat warned that a “dangerous zone” declaration would increase the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and called on the PA security forces to start working to end the state of lawlessness and anarchy.
“The Gaza Strip has become worse than Somalia,” a prominent human rights activist said. “Thousands of gunmen continue to roam the streets and the new government hasn’t done anything to restore law and order. Every day you hear horror stories about people who are killed and wounded. The situation is really intolerable.”
Muhammad Dahlan, who was recently appointed PA national security adviser, said it was time to admit that a “curse has hit” the Gaza Strip. “Anyone who does not admit that there’s a curse in the Gaza Strip does not know what he’s talking about,” he said.
Dahlan expressed concern over the wave of kidnappings in Gaza, noting that a local engineer who was abducted several months ago was still being held by his captors. He said that the National Security Council was now preparing a security plan that would end the state of anarchy in the PA-controlled areas.
“The Palestinian security establishment needs to undergo major surgery,” he added. “The situation is catastrophic and many young men prefer to work for clans and not the security forces.”
