RAMALLAH, Saturday, September 07, 2019 (WAFA) – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said today that it is facing a $120 million deficit in this year $1.2 billion budget.

UNRWA spokesman Sami Mshasha  told Voice of Palestine radio that despite this shortage and attempts to dissolve it, the Agency has succeeded in starting the new schoolyear and kept on providing services in health, education and social welfare in its five operating areas that include the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

He said UNRWA is working with the Palestinian, Jordanian and Arab governments to garner  political and financial support in order to get the United Nations to renew its mandate for the next three years.

“These efforts are important to help UNRWA continue to provide services to the refugees,” he said.

Mshasha said UNRWA is committed to cooperate with the committee investigating alleged corruption in the organization but that there should be separation between corruption in UNRWA and extending its mandate, which is being used by some countries for political ends.

“There are some legal and administrative mishandling in the work of the Agency, but attempts to introduce changes regarding the number of refugees and the definition of who is a refugee will not succeed,” he said in reference to the attempts by the United States and Israel to dramatically cut the number of Palestine refugees worldwide as a step toward wiping out the Palestinian refugee issue from the conflict with Israel.

The US, the long-time largest donor to UNRWA with over $300 million annually, ended last year its support for the humanitarian organization, which was looked at as an attempt to do away with the refugee issue in favor of Israel.

There are over five million Palestine refugees worldwide registered with UNRWA.

M.K.