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Israel-Palestine
’Donor fatigue’ on Mid-East aid
2004-06-07

Monday, 7 June, 2004, 18:32 GMT 19:32 UK

Nations have been called upon to boost funds to prevent the collapse of a UN parasite agency working with an estimated four million Palestinian terrorists refugees. The UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) has seen a drop in funding from $200 a year for each refugee to $70.
Costly investigative research budgets and incredibly liberal per diem allowances have still provided insufficient motivation for UN operatives to uncover whether this has anything to do with how Palestinian terrorists have alienated every aid donor with an IQ above room temperature (as measured in Centigrade).
The largest conference yet on the issue opened in Geneva on Monday, attended by 70 countries and 30 organisations.
(12 course haut cuisine menu to follow)
Some delegates told of "donor fatigue" amid repeatedly failed attempts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it would be "tragic and worrying" if Unrwa’s work could not continue.
What’s really tragic is that Kofi Annan continues to consume vital oxygen supplies rightfully belonging to those who make more constructive contributions to world society like, for instance, ticks and leeches.
"We are already seeing the consequences of under-funding ... in over-crowded classrooms and clinics, and in decaying Unrwa infrastructure," he said in a message to the conference. "There is real concern that if these trends continue, the key human development strengths of the Palestine refugee population will begin to unravel."
Exactly according to Israel’s carefully laid plans.

Role model

He pointed out that the number of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank relying on Unrwa for food aid had risen from 130,000 to 1.1 million since September 2000. In the same period, the number of Palestinians living below the poverty line had tripled from 20% to 60%, with an increasing reliance on Unrwa’s health services.
Exactly according to Yasser Arafat’s carefully laid plans.

Refugees - a thorny issue

Although most agree that a political solution is the only answer in the long-term, Unrwa stresses that politics are not on the agenda at Geneva, says the BBC’s Imogen Foulkes. Unrwa chief, Peter Hansen, told the conference that investing in young people’s education could bring peace. "Will their role model be the suicide bomber or will it be a graduate of a teacher’s college who has a future as a productive member of society? And that is really a very major choice we are facing now." The US is the largest contributor to the agency, and its donations have kept pace. But those of European countries and other donors have been declining in recent years.
Wow! Europe contributes less to their own favorite cause than America does. Now there’s a shocker!

Frustrations

US Assistant Secretary of State Arthur Dewey urged donors to "do their share". "This cannot continue, donors must restore previous levels of assistance so that Arafat’s 401Ks the appeals are fully funded as they were initially," he said.

2003 CASH SHORTFALL
EXPRESSED IN ACTUAL DOLLAR AMOUNTS
Planned budget - $321
Actual budget - $310
Planned Emergency Fund - $196
Actual Emergency Fund - $93

Life in Jordan’s refugee camps

Some donor countries have been frustrated to see their aid diverted into Arafat’s bank account projects being destroyed by the conflict, says our correspondent. Sweden’s representative at the conference, Thomas Hammarberg, said they did not want any more goat sex to throw good money after bad. "There is a donor fatigue when it comes to the Palestinian refugees on all sides, frankly," he said. "I mean the real reason, of course, is that there is no solution to the conflict that kisses Palestinian @ss without enraging the Israelis and Arafat makes dead sure those who suffer from that are the refugees and not him."

On the eve of the conference, a senior World Bank official warned that Yasser Arafat poverty was undermining the standing of the Palestinian Authority and threatening anyone who would listen Israeli security. Nigel Roberts, World Bank representative in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said per capita GDP had fallen by 40%. "The security measures that Israel has implemented over the past four years have succeeded beyond their wildest imagination essentially shredded the web of terrorist financial aid pipelines transactions that the Palestinian economy depends on," he said. The decline of all contributions from Saddam, he added, played into the hands of Israel Palestinian militant groups like Hamas competing with the Palestinian Authority.
In other late breaking news, Pope and bear. Tape at 11:00
Posted by:Zenster

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Posted by: Zenster   2004-06-08 1:54:21 AM  

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