BEIRUT (AP) – The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees appealed on Wednesday for USD15.5 million to respond to the fallout of clashes in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp earlier this month.
The agency, known as United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said the money is needed to repair infrastructure damaged in the clashes in the Ein el-Hilweh camp, provide alternate schooling locations for children unable to use the schools in the camp, and hand cash assistance to people who have been displaced from their homes.
Several days of street battles broke out in the camp between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement and extremist groups in the camp after Fatah accused the extremists of gunning down one of their military generals on July 30.
While a truce has prevailed since August 3, clashes could resume if the extremist groups do not hand over the accused killers to the Lebanese judiciary as demanded by a committee of Palestinian factions earlier this month.
The bulk of the funds about USD11 million, would go to provide one-time USD1,200 cash aid payments to families whose homes have “become uninhabitable due to the conflict”, the agency said in its appeal, as well as smaller aid payments to other vulnerable families in the camp.
Another USD1.65 million would go to setting up a “double shift system” at schools outside of the camp to accommodate about 5,900 students, as the schools inside the camp were damaged in the clashes and “remain occupied by armed actors and inaccessible to UNRWA”, the appeal said. The requested amount does not include the cost of reconstruction.
There are nearly 500,000 Palestinian refugees registered in Lebanon, although the actual number is believed to be around 200,000, as many have emigrated but remain on UNRWA’s roster.
