Amman - The Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works
Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Karen AbuZayd, on Monday
warned that new restrictions Israel planned to impose on the West
Bank could force the agency to curtail its humanitarian aid to the
Palestinian territory.
'I fear that increased restrictions on humanitarian workers and
supplies will inevitably bring about a further decline in our ability
to deliver services,' AbuZayd told a press conference in the
Jordanian capital Amman ahead of a meeting of host and donor
countries of Palestinian refugees.
'If access, already badly curtailed, is further reduced, the
scaling down of humanitarian assistance and a reduction in the
quality of these services will be unavoidable,' she said.
The UNRWA chief said that she had been notified by the Israeli
authorities of 'a new regime they intend to implement in the West
Bank that would have far-reaching consequences'.
'The cornerstone of this new regime is the establishment of six
terminals in the West Bank through which humanitarian workers and
materials will have to pass', she added.
AbuZayd told the meeting that ANRWA was facing an 'exceptional
crisis' in the Gaza Strip and at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in
northern Lebanon, which she said had been devastated by the armed
conflict between the Lebanese army and a radical Islamist group this
summer.
In an opening address, Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul Illah
Khatib said that it was imperative for the Middle East conference,
scheduled to be held at Annapolis, Maryland later this month, to
discuss core issues - Jerusalem, refugees, settlements and frontiers.
'We are at a crucial cross-roads which prompts us to snatch this
historical opportunity by assisting Palestinians and Israelis to
conduct serious negotiations,' he said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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