REPORT: Fears in Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon over US aid cut

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31-01-2018 | 14:05
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REPORT: Fears in Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon over US aid cut
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2min
REPORT: Fears in Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon over US aid cut

In Burj al-Barajneh camp, Amira Nassar fears for the future after the United States cut aid to the UN agency that helps her and many others among the estimated 170,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

 

Sitting in an old people's centre, she says healthcare services used to be good, but the situation has worsened after reductions in funding.

 

Barred from taking up most jobs in Lebanon, the refugees depend on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for basic services.

 

But the United States, historically the agency's biggest donor, said this month it would withhold more than half of the $125 million it had planned to give, amid a widening rift between US President Donald Trump and Palestinian leaders.

 

Last week, Trump threatened again to withhold aid to the Palestinians if they did not pursue peace with Israel, accusing them of snubbing the United States by not meeting Vice President Mike Pence during a recent visit.

 

UNRWA is already facing a financial crisis and has had to adjust to the arrival of 30,000 more Palestinian refugees in Lebanon fleeing camps in war-torn Syria.

 

Claudio Cordone, head of UNRWA in Lebanon, says any reductions to the support UNRWA provides would have a serious impact on refugees' living conditions.

 

UNRWA was formed in 1949 after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war that followed Israel's creation.   

 

UNRWA has launched a global campaign for countries and private donors to help it deal with a shortfall in funding, and maintain the “humanitarian mandate” which Cordone says the agency has.

 

 

REUTERS

 

For more details, watch the full report in the video above

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Lebanon

Palestinian refugees

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