±¬ÁÏÍøRWA

PRESS RELEASE

Press Release No. HQ/G/03/2006

28 February 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


European Commission Announces $ 76 Million

for ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA Annual Budget

Gaza – Today the European Commission announced a donation of $ 76 million to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (±¬ÁÏÍøRWA) for its annual budget.

The funds will support ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA’s general programming in the areas of education, health, relief and social services in the Agency’s five fields of operation: the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Karen AbuZayd, ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA’s Commissioner-General, welcomed the European Commission’s latest donation: “We are grateful for the Commission’s timely contribution to ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA’s 2006 regular budget. It will enable ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA to continue to deliver critically needed humanitarian services to Palestine refugees without interruption.”

The European Commission is also a generous supporter of ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA’s Emergency Appeal, which aids the most vulnerable and at-risk refugees in the Gaza Strip and West Bank by providing emergency employment, food assistance, mobile health care, and shelter repair and rehabilitation.

European Commission contributions to ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA in the past year amounted to $ 75.5 million.

-Ends-