UNRWA 1st EMERGENCY APPEAL (8 November 2000)

BACKGROUND
The violence between Israelis and Palestinians since 28 September 2000 has resulted in scores of deaths and injuries, leading to pressure on limited emergency health and rehabilitation facilities. Several hundred homes have been damaged by the fighting, leading to the need to relocate their occupants while repairs are carried out. On the socio-economic front, Israel's closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has prevented tens of thousands of Palestinians generally employed inside Israel from reaching their work, leading to mass unemployment (estimated at more than 40% in the Gaza Strip). The immediate impact is increased poverty, and difficulty for families in sustaining a minimum standard of living. The Palestine refugee community has been particularly hard hit, being already among the poorest and most disadvantaged in the region. UNRWA has been approached by representatives of the Palestine refugee community (e.g. camp committees) to provide emergency assistance. Some 217,000 refugee families have turned to UNRWA for immediate food and cash assistance.

UNRWA's RESPONSE
Since the beginning of the clashes, UNRWA has placed its health services on an emergency footing, providing a 24-hour service in areas most affected. UNRWA has also used its ambulances in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to transport the injured. The Agency's 43-bed hospital in Qalqilya, West Bank, has treated many of the most severely injured.

In view of the deteriorating economic situation, UNRWA launched a special Emergency Appeal to assist the refugee community in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

With its large operational capacity in the field, and working closely with the refugee community, UNRWA has a special understanding of the most urgent needs; this should enable the Agency to deliver help quickly where it is most required. We are seeking to avert a humanitarian crisis by putting in place contingency plans now.

We are seeking some $39 million for contingency planning to cover the next three months: some $20.5 million for Gaza and some $18.8 million for the West Bank.

The Appeal covers many different categories but the main thrust is RELIEF including essential food supplies, shelter, cash assistance and employment generation, and MEDICAL ASSISTANCE, including physical rehabilitation and counselling for the several thousand injured or disabled as a result of recent clashes.

The top priority is for food and shelter. Some $30 million, or 75% of the Appeal is to fund basic food commodities and blankets, the repair of shelters, cash assistance for those who have had to move out of damaged/vulnerable shelters, and cash subsidies to the very poor.

GAZA STRIP
If the whole $30 million is provided, we will be able to give food (flour, rice, sugar, milk, lentils) to 127,000 families or some 85% of the refugee population in Gaza, blankets to some 16,000 refugee families and cash assistance to the 1,000 relocated families ($800 one-off payment) and to 5,000 (3 x $300) of the poorest families.

We will also repair or reconstruct some 600 shelters damaged by the fighting. UNRWA will also give post-injury social help to the permanently disabled (estimated at 3,000 refugees) to the value of almost $800,000 for special food items, transport to medical facilities, and prosthetic devices.

WEST BANK
In the West Bank, we hope to provide emergency food provisions and cash subsidies in lieu of food ($40 each) to some 90,000 poor families, as well as selective cash assistance ($250 to 3,000 families), cash subsidies to repair or reconstruct some 2,000 shelters, which have been damaged by violence, blankets to some 10,000 families, and 500 tents.

EMPLOYMENT GENERATION
It is clear that massive unemployment is taking a terrible toll on the Palestinian population. Estimates of unemployment in the Occupied Territories range from 40-65% (compared to around 11% before the current crisis).

Any assistance UNRWA can give will only be temporary, and should not be seen as a permanent alternative to other forms of employment and income-generation for the Palestinian economy. We intend to provide short-term jobs at a cost of just over $400,000 for 400 sanitation labourers and social workers (the latter to assess eligibility and facilitate delivery of emergency assistance to needy families) in Gaza, and community-based infrastructure works with a budget of $1.8 million in the West Bank. We cannot hope to meet all the needs in this sector but we hope to reach the most disadvantaged.

MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
UNRWA has upgraded its emergency medical facilities to cope with the increasing number of injuries as a result of clashes. This was made possible with generous donor support ($1.5 million) for our initial Flash Appeal, launched in early October.

We want to consolidate and improve that initial investment in our health services. We are seeking to fund three additional ambulances for Gaza and four for the West Bank plus four microbuses to transport medical teams in the West Bank (total cost of some $560,000).

In order to cope with the increasing demands for physiotherapy due to high injury rates, we want to invest in new physiotherapy equipment to operate from our existing health centres. We are also seeking additional emergency hospital equipment, staff, and supplies in both areas, to a total cost of some $3.6 million.

The physical cost of the clashes is obvious; the mental scars less immediate. We intend to set up Mental Health teams and offer various psychological counselling and rehabilitation services to different sectors of the community in Gaza and the West Bank. Total cost estimated at around $900,000.

We are also seeking to shore up two other areas of our operations in the West Bank: the education programme, and our operations/communications capability. Total cost for both some $800,000.

LAUNCH AND RESPONSE
We have already sent the Flash Appeal to our major donors in October, and US$ 1.5 million has been pledged. We hope for a good response to this second appeal. We hope you will help us in this endeavour.