- "Peter Hansen, commissioner general of the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), told AFP in an interview here
Wednesday that his organisation did not have the funds to provide adequate
shelter to refugees after the destruction of some 1,400 houses in Gaza."
-
-
- GAZA CITY (AFP) --
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says his organisation
is unable to keep pace with the demand for housing from families made homeless
by the Israeli army's demolitions in the Gaza Strip.
-
- Peter Hansen, commissioner general of the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), told AFP in an interview here Wednesday
that his organisation did not have the funds to provide adequate shelter
to refugees after the destruction of some 1,400 houses in Gaza.
-
- The Israeli authorities have hotly disputed UNRWA's figures
of the homes that have been destroyed, most notably during a series of
raids in the southern town of Rafah.
-
- "We have built 300 houses and there are 400 others
under construction," said Hansen.
-
- "We need about 30 million dollars which we don't
have. We try to get money to build the demolished houses ... but the fact
is that the available funds are less than the destroying rates."
-
- Israel insists it has tried to minimise the impact of
its operations on the civilian Palestinian infrastructure but says the
demolition of some buildings has been unavoidable, accusing militant groups
of using housing as a cover for tunnels through which weapons are smuggled
under the nearby border with Egypt.
-
- But Hansen said that the scale of the damage wrought
by the Israeli authorities could not be justified, regardless of the security
concerns.
-
- "Israel justifies its actions (the demolitions)
in Khan Younis and Rafah by two arguments: the first is the tunnels and
the second that these houses are used as cover for gunmen," said Hansen.
-
- "My point of view is that there is no proportionality
between what they are protecting themselves against and what they use to
protect themselves.
-
- "Israel considers itself under threat and feels
its security is threatened and any country will take action when it feel
that its security is threatened. The question is: Will these actions bring
complete security to Israel?"
-
- Israel has grown weary of criticism from the United Nations,
a body which it regards as institutionally biased against the Jewish state.
-
- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has suffered a series of
reverses at the hands of the UN General Assembly over its policies towards
the Palestinians, most notably over its controversial West Bank separation
barrier which at times cuts deep into Palestinian land.
-
- Hansen in particular angered Israel by describing the
fierce clashes between the Palestinians and Israeli army at the Jenin refugee
camp in April 2002 as a "massacre".
-
- The right-wing English-language Jerusalem Post newspaper
has accused the Dane of having "long ago given up any pretence of
objectivity between Israel and the Palestinians."
-
- But Hansen said that both sides bore responsibility for
the continued violence and urged them to resume talks in order to break
the vicious circle.
-
- "My message to the Israelis and Palestinians is
that this continued policy only leads to war, suffering, misery and broken
economies for both parties. Both parties have to return to the peace process
to reach a solution."
-
- Copyright © 2004 Agence France Presse. All rights
reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority
of Agence France Presse.
-
- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=14
&u=/afp/20040128/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_palestinians_un_040128103606
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