Palestinian camps face grave threat if virus spreads

AMMAN: Malka Abu Aker has seen her crowded refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank swell year upon year since fleeing there over 70 years ago, with the arrival of new generations and those escaping successive Mideast conflicts.

But with the coronavirus spreading locally, the 73-year-old worries that her congested Palestinian camp is primed for contagion, and blames the UN’S cash-strapped Palestinian aid agency for not doing enough to help.

“(UNRWA) is not sanitising the camp, and they are not cleaning the camp in efforts against this epidemic,” Abu Aker said in Bethlehem’s Deheisheh camp, referring to the UN agency which provides services to 5.6 million Palestinian refugees.

Nearly a third of those refugees live in 58 Unrwa-registered camps across the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

“I have lived through many troubles... but these days are the toughest I have ever seen,” said Abu Aker, who fled a village in West Jerusalem to escape fighting during the 1948 Arab-israeli war.

From the packed beachfront camps of Gaza to the urban sprawl in south Beirut, Palestinian refugees fear that the already dwindling aid they receive from UNRWA could fall further as the health crisis persists, and donors shift priorities.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - UNRWA’S full name - was created by the UN Assembly 70 years ago to deal with the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who were driven from their homes or fled the conflict surrounding Israel’s 1948 creation.

UNRWA has faced budget difficulties for years amid donor fatigue and other conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

But its financial troubles escalated after 2018, when the United States, its largest donor, halted its annual aid of $360 million.

Its challenges were compounded by an investigation last year into misconduct allegations, which saw the United States and Israel intensify criticism of the agency.

The probe led to the departure of senior officials including UNRWA’S Commissioner General, who denied wrongdoing and said the agency was the victim of a political campaign.

Despite its troubles, UNRWA last year secured a three-year renewal of its mandate by the United Nations. But soon afterwards came an unexpected challenge: coronavirus.

It launched flash funding appeals, saying it needed $14 million over an initial three-month period to confront the illness in its camps.