Hundreds protest near UNRWA offices in refugee camps all over the West Bank

Thursday July 26, 2007 15:27 by Najeeb Faraj - IMEMC News

Hundreds of Palestinian refugees and their supporters organized protests, on Thursday, all over the West Bank in front of the United Nations Relief Work Agency – UNRWA- offices due to the cuts in aid and funding money to the Palestinian refugees.

The protesters held slogans demanding that the Agency stop cutting funds, and to instead keep aiding the Palestinian refugees. Adnan Ajrami, the head of the popular committees in the refugee camps in the West Bank which organized the protests, said the move today is to warn the UNRWA to stop its cuts.

The UNRWA announced that starting in August, there will be no Medical financial support for some health conditions, such as miscarriage cases (in which the family has to pay 50 % of the cost) and X-ray Photos (in which the refugees have to pay the full cost), in addition of raising the amount of money that the refugee has to pay for medical treatments in the UNRAW clinics to 5%.

Those cuts will increase the economical hardships that Palestinian refugees are facing, especially with the deteriorating financial situation of the Palestinians due to the continuous Israeli military occupation of Palestinian areas.

Translated by: Ghassan Bannoura – IMEMC News Room.

bethlehem | refugees/immigration | news report ghassanb at imemc dot org