BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

Assistance
78 Report of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, 1 January–31
December 2005, General Assembly, Supplement 13 (A/61/13), p. 20.
79 As many refugees no longer bake at home, the distribution of flour was discontinued in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon in July 2005,
with mixed pulses being given as a substitute. UNRWA has added tinned tuna as of January 2006. Report of the Commissioner-
General, 1 July 2004–30 June 2005. UN GAOR, Sixtieth Session, Supp. 13 (A/60/13), 2005, para. 122, p. 29.
80 Deep poverty is defined as the inability to meet basic human consumption needs for food, clothing and housing. Households
or individuals whose income falls below the level necessary to meet these consumption needs are considered unable to meet
basic needs. Prolonged Crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: Recent Socio-Economic Impacts, UNRWA Headquarters, Gaza,
November 2006, p. v and 31.
81 UNRWA, Prolonged Crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, p. v.
82 “Research suggests that assistance to refugees is better targeted and, therefore, less likely to ‘leak’ to the non-poor.” UNRWA,
Prolonged Crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, p. v.
83 Five Decades of Responsibility in the Refugee Camps of Jordan. Amman: Department of Palestinian Affairs, 2000, p. 21.
84 Report of the Director General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for the Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, 1 July
1958–30 June 1959, UN GAOR, 14th Sess., Supp. 14 (A/4213), 30 June 1959, Annex H, para. 30.
85 The Iraqi governments of Abdel-Karim Qassem (1959) and Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr (1970) were responsible for constructing
most Palestinian housing in the al-Salam, al-Horiyya and al-Baladiyat districts of Baghdad in response to the pressing need to
house Palestinian refugees. Following the 1948 exodus to Iraq, and until the 1970s, many Palestinians were housed in poor living
conditions in old schools and military camps under the direct supervision of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. See Palestinian Refugees
in Iraq, Department of Refugee Affairs, Palestine Liberation Organization, 1999. Under Saddam Hussein’s regime, three buildings
were constructed in the al-Baladiat area. See Saad, Rasha, “Displaced Yet Again,” Al-Ahram, Issue 641, 5–11 June 2003. The
Iraqi government also rented houses for Palestinian refugees. An estimated 63% of the Palestinian refugees in Baghdad (1,466
families, comprising 8,944 refugees) benefited from such government-provided houses. Palestinian Refugees in Iraq, Department
of Refugee Affairs, Palestine Liberation Organization, 1999. (Available from Badil.)
86 Adwan, Talab, “Refugee Camp lands: Political/Juridical Issues and Social Practices in the West Bank and Gaza.” Paper prepared
for the International Symposium: The Palestinian Refugees and UNRWA in Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza, 1949–1999, 31
August–2 September 1999, Dead Sea, Jordan, p. 17.
87 World Bank Technical Team, “Movement and Access Restrictions in the West Bank: Uncertainty and Inefficiency in the Palestinian
Economy”, Executive Summary, 6 May 2007, para. ii.
88 World Bank Technical Team, “Movement and Access Restrictions in the West Bank”, para. 38.
89 See UNRWA website, Finances section, compilation of tables 1, 2, 3, 4 as of 31 October 2006.
90 See UNRWA website, Finances section, compilation of table 4, as of 31 October 2006.
91 Jacobsen, Laurie Blome, Finding Means, Vol. I, p. 8.
92 Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
from 2003 to 2005. Available at http://www.un.org/unrwa/.
93 UNRWA in 2005, UNRWA Headquarters, Gaza, 2007, p. 15.
94 Seventeen per cent of UNRWA schools are in unsuitable rented properties. UNRWA in 2005, UNRWA Headquarters, Gaza,
2007, p. 15.
95 Classroom occupancy rates are substantially higher than the rates in host country schools. The average classroom occupancy rate
for the 2004–2005 academic year was 40.5 students per class. Occupancy was highest in the occupied Gaza Strip (44.7 pupils per
classroom) and lowest in Lebanon (34.6). Report of the Commissioner-General, 1 July 2004–30 June 2005. UN GAOR, Sixtieth
Session, Supp. 13 (A/60/13), 2005, para. 47, p. 11.
96 Since 1997, UNRWA has been unable to provide scholarships for post-secondary education due to funding shortfalls. Scholars
already enrolled in the programme, however, continue to receive assistance through special project funds until they complete
their studies.
97 Report of the Commissioner-General, 1 July 2004–30 June 2005. UN GAOR, Sixtieth Session, Supp. 13 (A/60/13), 2005, para. 98, p. 24.
98 Report of the Commissioner-General, 1 July 2004–30 June 2005. UN GAOR, Sixtieth Session, Supp. 13 (A/60/13), 2005, para. 72, p. 18.
99 Between 1997 and 2000, UNRWA was forced to suspend allocations for selective cash assistance. Current allocations, reinstated
in January 2000, allow the Agency to support only one-third of the families in need of special assistance.
100 UNRWA employs 229 social workers with an average caseload of 250 cases per year (2005). Report of the Commissioner-General,
1 July 2004–30 June 2005. UN GAOR, Sixtieth Session, Supp. 13 (A/60/13), 2005, para. 143, p. 34.
101 Over the course of its 50 years of operating, UNRWA has launched numerous emergency funding appeals to cover the costs of
emergency programmes. In 1997, for example, UNRWA launched a special emergency appeal for Lebanon (totalling US $11
million) for essential health, education, relief and social services so as to alleviate financial pressure resulting from the damage
caused by the Israeli invasion.
103