Anger in West Bank camp over ‘cut’ in UN refugee aid

UN insists new system will make families better off, but refugee camp leaders say it’s a cover for scaling back support, Ben Lynfield finds out why

Palestinian refugee Hiam Muwad, 51, stands in the kitchen of her home in the Amari refugee camp near the central West Bank city of Al Bireh on May 9, 2016. Heidi Levine for The National

Amari Refugee Camp, West Bank // Anxiety is rising among residents of the Amari refugee camp, where a collection of drab grey concrete and stucco dwellings line the narrow alleys near the central West Bank city of Al Bireh.

The United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees has decided to halt its food distribution programme in all 18 camps across the occupied West Bank and replace it with a cash card system.

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), this change – which takes effect next month – will give families eligible for food aid greater flexibility and choice, as well as provide them with US$20 (Dh73) more to spend compared to what the food parcels were previously worth.

But this message does not appear to have reached Amari where rumours abound about the perceived ill intentions on the part of the UN.

“UNRWA is trying to save money at the expense of the most vulnerable people,” said Ahmed Tomaileh, an activist on the camp’s residents committee.

Speaking to The National on Monday at the camp's youth centre, Mr Tomaileh charged that the shift to electronic cards is part of efforts by the UN to scale back its role in refugee camps.

He cited other alleged moves by the agency, including reducing the number of people eligible for food parcels in recent years and the impending withdrawal of financing for social service institutions in Amari, such as its Committee for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled.

“UNRWA is withdrawing and if UNRWA withdraws this is a conspiracy to end the refugee issue,” said Mr Tomaileh, whose family fled Anaba village – near what is now Israel’s Ben Gurion airport – during the 1948 Nakba or “catastrophe” that accompanied Israel’s creation.

“We tell UNRWA that we want you to stay. We don’t want a change. We want UNRWA to help us until we return to our houses,” he added, referring to the homes that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee during the Nakba.

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness told The National that rumours of "a political plot to downsize UNRWA and make the refugee problem go away" were untrue.

"Our mandate is not for sale," he said, adding that he was not aware of the agency reducing its funding for camp organisations as Mr Tomaileh had charged.

However, “it may be that certain organisations are deemed to be better partners and that UNRWA is finding other partners and dropping some”.

The UN is also in the process of changing from food distribution to cash handouts in refugee camps in Lebanon, Mr Gunness said. It is replacing food distribution with electronic cards in Jordan as well.

The change, however, is not being made in Gaza because high inflation and economic unpredictability there in the context of the Israeli blockade means it is better for people to continue getting the aid as food, he said.

In response to the allegation that the agency had reduced the numbers eligible for food aid, a UN official said that during the last five years the agency had tightened up eligibility checks for its food distribution programme, with social workers conducting needs assessments to make sure that families who do not qualify do not receive handouts.

Such explanations of UNRWA policies have either not been adequately communicated to the residents of refugee camps in the West Bank, or are being ignored.

Camp leaders were so angry about perceived signs of the agency scaling back its role that they began a series of protest measures on Monday.

By order of the camps’ residents committee, cars belonging to the UN were prevented from entering Amari, while the offices of UNRWA camp directors were forced to shut down.

“If they don’t pay attention we will escalate [our protests]”, Mr Tomaileh said, adding that no violence would be used.

UNRWA has been distributing food parcels in Palestinian refugee camps throughout the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria since 1949.

Until the agency’s recent decision to shift to cash cards, parcels in the West Bank consisted of oil, sugar, rice, flour and powdered milk rations and were distributed to the neediest of families every three months.

Each eligible family member was entitled to $110 worth of food parcels, according to the UN. But the poorest of the poor were also given cash payments of 35 shekels ($9) per family member from UNRWA. Now people will simply be given $130 on electronic cards.

“Definitely we rely on it,” said Suha Hamad, 41, whose fifteen-year-old son Mohammed is disabled and has a long list of medical expenses that the family struggles to meet.

“My husband is a blacksmith and the money he makes is not enough to live with. With the food parcel, we make our own bread, use the rice and the oil is of excellent quality. I use the money to buy medicine for my son.”

When Ms Hamad collected her most recent parcel in March, she was told it would be the last time her family would receive such a handout. In future, UNRWA said, she would be issued with an electronic card so that allows her to make the purchases herself in UN-approved supermarkets.

Mr Gunness said the switch to electronic cards comes as part of an effort by UNRWA to meet donor countries’ efficiency expectations and as part of internal reforms introduced by the agency in the face of an $81 million budget deficit.

“We have to make sure things are happening that make UNRWA an attractive organisation to fund,” he added.

A basic problem for the organisation, he said, is that there is no sign of an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, while there is a constant growing demand for services due to natural population growth of Palestinian refugees.

In Amari, 52-year-old Hiam Muawad, who cannot afford to get her teeth fixed and is waiting for help from the Ramadan charity, said uncertainty over what will happen with the electronic cards “is an extra worry”.

But, she added, if the card does in fact enable her to purchase more, “it will be a good thing”.

Ms Hamad, the blacksmith’s wife, supports the protest measures as she believes she will be getting less money.

“The protest steps are good. Maybe it will move the situation, maybe they will change their mind,” she said.