International aid agencies have begun emergency food relief programs for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians thrust into poverty by the Israeli closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
|
In the southern Gaza Strip, the UN World Food Program handed out sacks of wheat flour to Palestinians who have lost jobs due to Israel's blockade, imposed in a bid to halt the spiral of Israeli-Palestinian violence raging since last September.
"We hope to give assistance to 250,000 people," said the WFP's Ms Heather Hill, explaining that the operation began today in Rafah near the Egyptian border. "It is the biggest operation yet in the Palestinian territories."
She said the plan would last three months.
According to the United Nations and the World Bank, unemployment and poverty rates have skyrocketed because of the closure, which prevents the more than 100,000 Palestinians who worked in Israel from reaching their jobs.
UN estimates say about one-third of Palestinians, or one million people, now live in poverty, subsisting on less than two dollars a day.
Visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday urged Israelto lift the closure, saying it did not contribute to security.
The International Committee of the Red Cross also started theirplan to bring soap, blankets and other relief materials to 60 Arab villages sealed off by the Israeli closure.
"The responsibilities belonging to an occupying force is that people in communities living under their control should be allowed to lead as normal a life as possible. Economic degradation is not normal, especially when it's forced upon a civilian population by an occupying force," said Mr Kim Gordon-Bates, an ICRC spokesman.
He said the plan, which began in the northern West Bank, would last several months.
AFP