OCHA INCREASES EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR PALESTINIANS

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 002224 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR WILLIAMS/GREENE/WAECHTER; NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/LOGERFO; STATE PASS TO USAID/BORODIN; TREASURY FOR ADKINS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREF EAID ECON KWBG SUBJECT: OCHA INCREASES EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR PALESTINIANS BY 80 PERCENT REF: 2005 JERUSALEM 5595 ¶1. (SBU) Citing deteriorating economic conditions, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has revised its original appeal for the West Bank and Gaza upwards from USD 215 million to USD 385 million. OCHA head David Shearer said the new funding was predominantly for job creation and cash assistance to the most vulnerable, medical supplies and food to the growing 'most at-risk' groups identified by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and World Food Program (WFP). Shearer stressed that UN assistance was intended to alleviate conditions and could not substitute for existing PA social services. ¶2. (SBU) Shearer said the PA budget crisis had undermined the functioning of PA institutions, which provide the bulk of essential services to the Palestinian population. These services include the operation of 75 percent of primary and secondary schools, 62 percent of all primary healthcare clinics, all the major hospitals, water network maintenance, and social and relief services to 45,000 families who are chronically unable to support themselves. ¶3. (SBU) UNRWA Deputy Commissioner General Filippo Grandi commented that on-the-ground indicators pointed to worsening conditions. He said the waiting list to participate in UNRWA's emergency short-term employment program in Gaza had grown to 100,000, while the waiting list in the West Bank had increased six-fold over the last two months. Applications to teach at UNRWA schools had risen from 1,700 to 5,000. Grandi added that demand for UNRWA services was increasing in response to the decrease in public services. ¶4. (SBU) In late 2005 when the UN's Appeal for 2006 was launched requesting USD 215 million, the outlook appeared more positive. To date, USD 71 million of that Appeal has been funded, or only about 36 percent of the total requests. Stevens