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| Israel-Palestine |
| Palestinian aid crisis unresolved |
| 2004-06-08 |
| Donor countries have promised not to abandon the Palestinian refugees, but a two-day conference in Geneva has ended without a major aid boost. A further $10m (£5.5m) was raised - small compared with the $196m requested by the UN Relief and Works Agency last year just for its emergency fund. "This is just a continuing band-aid on the Wow! Europe contributes less to their own favorite cause than America does. Now there’s a shocker! Welfare suffers But never the UN leadership. The conference was attended by 70 countries and 30 organisations. 12 course haute cuisine menu to follow. Refugees - a thorny issue Unrwa urged them to give more to the 4.1 million Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. 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). On Monday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it would be "tragic and worrying" if Unrwa’s work could not continue. What’s really "tragic and worrying" 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 underfunding ... in overcrowded 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 plans. 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 plans. Frustrations US Assistant Secretary of State Arthur Dewey urged donors to "do their share". --2003 CASH SHORTFALL--"This cannot continue, donors must restore previous levels of assistance so that Gotta find all those tunnels. Sweden’s representative at the conference, Thomas Hammarberg, said they did not want |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #5 well that $3 per bullet expense would go along way to ending overcrowding in the classroom...but then that would mean actually doing something for themselves instead of crying about being a victim |
| Posted by: Dan 2004-06-08 6:22:24 PM |
| #4 "the key human development strengths of the Palestine refugee population" What the hell does that even mean? Does it mean starvation, or does it mean that UNRWA can't afford to print any more anti-Semitic textbooks for Palestinian schools? Or does it mean that they're going to have to start laying off "ambulance drivers", and the terrorists will have to catch their own rides out of the next firefight? |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-06-08 6:00:43 PM |
| #3 The Euro's are donating less because their economies are hurting and spending on voters takes precedence over everything else.The other source of major funding is Saudis and they are in survival mode right now.Income is down,unemployment is up,and the princes are not about to give their money to someone who can't help them.(I still think Saudi dumping of Euro is indication the princes are getting worried,and want to make sure US will help them find safe asylum if they have to flee.) |
| Posted by: Stephen 2004-06-08 5:08:50 PM |
| #2 Donor fatigue will continue to accelerate. As the Swedes say, why throw good money after bad? The Palestinians are a write-off. They are not self-sufficient and probably can't become so for at least a generation. For the past 50 years, all they've done is seethe, live off the kindness of strangers, and reproduce like rabbits. When animal populations in the wild exceed the carrying capacity of the land, famine and disease will thin the herd. I think I hear the hoofbeats of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse headed north from Zimbabwe to Gaza and the West Bank. To say these people are refugees implies that they have a right to return to the land that has been Israel since 1947 - not likely to happen unless someone exterminates the Jews (could be UN policy if not for the US,UK, and Australia). |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-06-08 4:38:09 PM |
| #1 At least the Swedes have it right! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-06-08 4:02:15 PM |