Jihad Taha the Hamas deputy political official in Lebanon held on Monday the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and its director in Lebanon Claudio Cordone responsible for reducing the services provided to Palestinian refugees stressing the continuation of rejecting these decisions.
Taha said in an interview with Quds Press “The reduction of services by UNRWA comes in the context of a systematic policy under trivial pretenses namely the inability to secure the necessary funding.”
“The decisions taken by UNRWA on the educational health and relief levels have exacerbated the humanitarian and social conditions in the (refugee) camps and other areas where Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon” he added.
He indicated that the economic and social conditions in Lebanon had their impact on the Palestinian refugees. This has led to an increase in suffering an exacerbation of the social situation and an increase in the poverty rates to more than 80 percent. “This requires the international agency to increase its services or declare a state of emergency in the Palestinian camps rather than reducing the services provided to those refugees” he elaborated.
Taha called on the international agency to launch a distress call to secure the supplies needed by the Palestinian refugees to avoid a humanitarian and social disaster inside the camps.
Taha addressed Claudio Cordone director of UNRWA affairs in Lebanon saying: “If you are unable to shoulder your responsibilities towards the suffering of the refugees by doing your required role then it is better for you to resign.”
The agency’s commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini had said “The agency is forced to partially postpone the payment of the salaries of 28000 employees including health care workers and teachers due to lack of funding.”
UNRWA which provides its services to about 5.3 million Palestinian refugees says it suffers from a suffocating financial crisis since the United States on 23 January completely frozen its financial support for the agency.
The agency was established by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949 and was mandated to provide assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operations Jordan Syria Lebanon the West Bank and the Gaza Strip until reaching a just solution for Palestinians.
