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| Middle East |
| Palestinians in Lebanon storm UNRWA office over medical aid cuts |
| 2002-12-18 |
| Palestinian refugees stormed on Tuesday an office of the UN Relief Work Agency (UNRWA) in southern Lebanon to protest cuts in medical aid which they said led to the death of a heart patient. Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the main UNRWA office in the southern port city of Tyre to protest Monday's death of Ahmad Salem, a refugee from the nearby Bass camp, an AFP correspondent said. Representatives of the protesters said Salem, 60, had failed to secure UNRWA financial coverage for a necessary open-heart surgery, he said. Those HMOs are... Wait a minute. When did UNRWA become an HMO? A number of protesters entered the UNRWA office by force and occupied the premises for half an hour, he said. âWhat nation accepts that its sons die at the doors of the hospitals?â said a banner carried by the protesters. âIn Palestine, the Israeli enemy tanks are killing our people and in Lebanon, UNRWA policies are also contributing to the killing of our people,â said another. Because they didn't pay for his operation? The protesters distributed a statement which called for more protest actions against UNRWA budget cuts and for finding solutions to health problems, particularly those related to chronic diseases. Similar incidents in the summer in which Palestinian refugees stormed several UNRWA offices to protest the budget cuts led to the closing of the agency premises in south Lebanon and the relocation of staff to Beirut for about two months. "Yeah! You guys are supposed to take care of us!" UNRWA, charged with tending to Palestinian refugees, has repeatedly complained about a lack of funds coming from international donors. Some 376,000 Palestinian refugees reside in Lebanon, more than half of whom live in miserable conditions in 12 "International donors" doesn't refer to the Rothschilds kicking in a few bucks. They're governments, funneling their citizens' tax dollars into medical care for Ain el-Hilweh. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #2 Are these people capable of doing ANYTHING for themselves.... besides blowing up? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2002-12-18 22:04:46 |
| #1 Dammit! Let's send Hillary over there to set up universal health care. |
| Posted by: Denny 2002-12-18 21:34:09 |