European Commission allocates EUR28 million for
humanitarian aid to the Middle East
Commission allocates EUR 28 million for humanitarian aid to
vulnerable populations in the Middle EastAs continued
violence and tension threaten to aggravate further the
humanitarian situation in the Middle East, the European
Commission has allocated EUR28 million to support more than
one million of the most vulnerable people affected by the
crisis. Activities will include the provision of food,
water, sanitation services, emergency healthcare,
psychosocial support, job opportunities, and protection for
ambulances and monitoring of the humanitarian situation.
Beneficiaries are Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip, as well as Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Assistance will be provided also to some 1,500 refugees from
Iraq still living in camps in Jordan and in "no-man's land"
on the border. The funds are directed through the European
Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) to United
Nations agencies, the Red Cross and non- governmental
organisations.
Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Poul
Nielson, said: "As stability in the region is jeopardised by
an upsurge of violence and political tensions, Europe must
continue to address the humanitarian consequences of the
conflict and protect those who are most vulnerable". He
added:
"Deteriorating living conditions in the occupied Palestinian
territories, resulting from lack of access to food, water,
basic services and economic opportunities, are the direct
consequences of the escalation of violence. Only a lifting
of the closure policy and of the constraints faced in
implementing aid programmes can help reverse the situation."
About two million people, almost 60% of the population of
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, live below the poverty
line on less than EUR2 per day. Two-thirds of those in the
Gaza Strip depend on international humanitarian assistance.
Nearly half of Palestinians of working age are unemployed.
Some 40% of the population does not have secure access to
food, and individual water consumption is half the level
recommended by the World Health Organisation. According to
the United Nations, the construction by Israel of the
"security barrier" in the West Bank and around Jerusalem has
already cut off more than 200,000 people from health and
education services, water resources and livelihoods. Once
completed, it could directly harm 680,000 people. The
psychological impact, especially on children, is dramatic.
Actions financed under the present decision include:
Food aid: More than 480,000 people,
including 30,000 highly vulnerable Bedouins, will
receive emergency food rations. 240,000
impoverished workers will also be provided with food in
exchange for agricultural and community works. In areas
where the barrier is being erected and in isolated West
Bank villages, the autonomy of households totalling
16,000 individuals will be boosted through food
production and agricultural training.
Water and sanitation: An increasing
number of families in the WestBank depend on water
brought in by tankers. More than 150,000 people,
including in areas affected by the barrier, will be
provided with water for drinking and agricultural
purposes. Some 220 household and 20 community
water cisterns will be built in the south of the West
Bank. New distribution systems will provide safe
drinking water to 15,000 Palestinians living in
unofficial settlements in northern Lebanon, while in the
south 4,400 Palestinian households will be connected to
improved sewerage networks.
Health care: Chronic malnutrition has
reached 10.7% on average in the occupied Palestinian
territories. Since 2002, the quality of food intake
has deteriorated, especially among under-fives. A
supplementary feeding programme in the southern West
Bank will therefore target 24,000 malnourished children.
Health services, supplied through mobile teams and
clinics, will be funded in remote areas of the West Bank
severely affected by movement restrictions, benefiting
more than 40,000 people, including 1,000 inhabitants of
seven villages sealed off by the barrier. The decision
will also fund the provision of medicines for hospitals
treating Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Mother and
child health care will be guaranteed for 1,500 people
who fled last year's war in Iraq and are now hosted in
camps at the border with Jordan.
Psychosocial support: The World
Health Organisation recently reported that more than one
third of the children under the age of 12 have
experienced traumatic events. The decision will finance
recreational activities in schools in refugee camps in
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, potentially benefiting
45,000 children aged 6 to 14. Psychological support to
Palestinian children in Lebanon will be provided.
Job opportunities: As a temporary
measure to combat widespread unemployment, 30,000
Palestinians who have lost their jobs as a result of the
crisis will be given emergency employment opportunities.
Another 16,000 workers will be employed on public works
and land reclamation activities or will receive
professional tool-kits to start a professional activity.
Protection: Actions aimed at
facilitating movement of ambulances within the occupied
Palestinian territories and the monitoring of the
humanitarian situation, particularly in areas under
closures and curfews,will be supported, as well as
visits to detainees and communication with their
families.
Coordination between non-governmental
organizations, which have implemented 30 to 40% of the
Commission-funded humanitarian operations in the Middle
East over the past two years, will be strengthened.
The Commission's humanitarian support for victims of the
crisis in the Middle East has risen since the start of
the second Intifada, from EUR15 million in 2000 to EUR38
million in 2003. With this latest decision,
theCommission's assistance to the Palestinians since
September 2000 amounts to EUR147
million, making it one of the largest donors of
humanitarian aid.
