Forpalestinerefugees June 2020 Table of Contents
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#forPalestinerefugees june 2020 table of contents a timeline of displacement and dispossession 3 70 years for palestine refugees 4 the unrwa impact 6 unrwa and the sustainable development goals 7 unrwa response to covid-19 17 unrwa in numbers 18 (c) 2020 the united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east 1948 partition 70 yearsofdisplacementanddispossession 1st arab-israeli war al nakba 1950 unrwa begins operations 1952 1954 1956 2nd arab-israeli war suez crisis 1958 1960 1962 1964 plo est. 1966 displacement anddispossession occupation 50+years june 1967 hostilities a timelineof 1968 palestinian insurgency starts south lebanoninsurgency 1970 1972 1974 israeli air raids on southern lebanon lebanese civilwar 1976 lebanese civil war 1978 south lebanon incursions 1980 1982 israel invades lebanon; plo expelled to tunis palestine refugee 1984 3 wars camp 1986 camp wars lebanon 1 1988 st first intifada intifada state of palestine delcared 1990 1992 gulf war madrid peace conference 1994 oslo I arafat returns to gaza 1995 oslo II 1996 1998 2000 2 nd 2nd intifada intifada 2002 operation defensive shield wb barrier construction wb barrierconstruction 2004 2006 israel disengages from gaza palestinian elections 2008 gaza blockade destruction of nahr el bared gaza I 2010 syria conflict syria conflict begins 2012 siege of yarmouk gaza II 2014 gaza III 2016 battle of yarmouk 2018 gaza return march begins 2020 deal of the century covid-19 70 years for palestine refugees More than 70 years after their initial displacement Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including in 1948, (known as the Nakba, or “catastrophe” in East Jerusalem, UNRWA has been a beacon of Arabic), Palestine refugees are one of the longest light to generations of Palestine refugees with lasting cases of forced migration in modern primary education and health care, social safety net history. Scattered over the Arab world, they have interventions, microfinance and protection services, experienced extremes in violence, sufferingand humanitarian assistance in times of emergency. and injustice. Today, they face daunting human development and protection challenges which 2020 marks 70 years of the Agency’s service for threaten to arrest their significant potential. Palestine refugees. It is both an occasion for sober reflection on Palestinian exile and an opportunity But Palestine refugees are not alone. Since 1950, to consider the contribution of the Agency’s the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for programmes to generations of Palestine refugees. Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) In 2020, the world must reaffirm its commitment to has been by their side, carrying out direct relief the now 5.6 million Palestine refugees as they await and works programmes as they face repeated a just and durable solution to their plight. 1950s 1960s humanitarian crises. Across Jordan, Lebanon, providing the tools for education and a setback survival After their 1948 displacement, more than 700,000 With Palestine refugee children eager to learn, Palestine refugees lost their homes, land, family and whole education overtakes relief as the Agency’s largest lives. In hastily constructed refugee camps, they faced programme and gender parity is achieved in our overcrowding, lack of food and water, and life in unfamiliar schools. The June 1967 hostilities create a new wave of places. On 1 May 1950, UNRWA begins providing rations, displacement, with approximately 300,000 Palestinians basic health care, free basic education and vocational fleeing the West Bank and Gaza. UNRWA establishes 10 training, and introduces mass immunizations. new camps and provides emergency aid and relief. 4 1990s 2000s sustainable poverty second intifada and alleviation human rights In the 1990s, Palestine refugees begin seeking more Palestine refugees face a difficult decade with the second and more sustainable livelihood opportunities. intifada in the oPt, the construction of the West Bank Barrier, the destruction of the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon, Our burgeoning microfinance programme begins the blockade and the first of several Israeli military operations providing small, direct loans to Palestine refugees in in Gaza. We continue to provide basic services, establishing Gaza, eventually establishing branches in the West psychological counselling and support programmes across the oPt, improving the physical and social environments of Bank, Jordan and Syria and contributing significantly the camps, and integrating human rights to our curricula in towards achievement of SDG 1 and SDG 8. our schools. 1970s 1980s unrest and relief emergencies in lebanon and the opt Unrest in Jordan and Israeli military operations in Lebanon Unrest continues as Israel invades Lebanon in 1982 result in turmoil and additional hardships for Palestine and the intifada, a spontaneous popular uprising, refugees. We continue to provide rations, health and begins in the oPt in 1987. We provide large- of violence in Gaza, renewed displacement and emergency medical care and emergency aid. The most scale emergency relief programmes as the total 2010s dispossession in Syria and the full impact of vulnerable refugee families find UNRWA their only source population of Palestine refugees surpasses two protection crisis occupation in the West Bank. A continuing source of relief, and so the Special Hardship Case programme is million. of support, we provide food assistance to 1 million born to distribute food to the neediest families. Palestine refugees in Gaza, protection assistance in Throughout the decade, Palestine refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and cash the region face the most serious protection crisis assistance to help Palestine refugees meet their since the Nakba: blockade and devastating cycles essential needs. 5 sdg 1 no poverty Throughout 70 years of operation, our holistic approach to tackling the multidimensional nature of poverty includes providing access to free primary health care, livelihood opportunities, relief and social services, and shelter and environmental health. We particularly focus on the development and self-reliance of less-advantaged members of Watch the video on UNRWA and the Palestine refugee community SDG 1 to understand how the – especially women, children, Agency aims to achieve No Poverty people with disabilities and the by 2030. elderly. 8 sdg 2 zero hunger We work to safeguard Palestine refugees’ right to food across fields of operation that include civil unrest and other political challenges. By providing basic food Mahmoud - head of his household in Khan Younis items and cash assistance to the most vulnerable Palestine refugees, including in times and areas of crisis, UNRWA is there for Palestine refugees. refugee camp in Gaza - struggles on daily basis to provide food and a proper house for his family. video: UNRWA introduces e-cards for social safety net programme 24 August 2016 In 2016, UNWA introduced new electron- ic vouchers, which are recharged every three months, replacing direct food dis- tribution, giving Palestine refugee bene- ficiaries of the Agency’s social safety net programme greater choice and flexibili- ty, and helping to preserve their sense of dignity. 9 sdg 3 good health For 70 years, Palestine refugees have turned to us as their main comprehensive primary health care provider. We provide 8.5 million primary health care consultations per year with 144 health centres and some 3,300 dedicated health staff. Limited mental health, psychosocial support and secondary and tertiary care are also provided to ensure every Palestine refugee can achieve good health and well-being. the magic formula Watch the story of Hassan Hamdan al-Zatri who was about one year old when his mother sought help at an UNRWA health centre in Gaza to treat his life-threatening dehydration. Thanks to the use of Najjar salts - an oral rehydration formula for the treatment of dehydrated diarrhoeic infants that was pioneered by UNRWA - Hassan, like thousands of other Palestine refugee children, survived. He lives today in Gaza and is the father of seven children. In 2013, UNRWA photographer George Ne’meh traced him and his doctor in Gaza for a forty-year reunion. The introduction of oral rehydration salts (ORS) in the early 1950s drastically reduced the mortality rate of Palestine refugee children under five years Mohamed is a nine-year-old Palestine refugee living in Tyre, Lebanon. of age. Its success cemented the wide-spread use of ORS by international Together with 533,000 fellow Palestine refugee students he receives in- agencies, including UNICEF. In 2013, UNRWA surpassed the health target of school health screenings through the UNRWA school health programme, the under-five mortality rate of 25/1000 within the Sustainable Development working toward the goal of health care for all. Goal of Good Health and Well-Being with a rate of 20.4/1000 live births. 10 sdg 4 quality education Over the decades, we have provided education to more than 2.5 million Palestine refugee children. The classroom is a center stage for Palestine refugee students to become confident, innovative, questioning individuals and we are proud that our education programme is recognised as a significant educational force in the Middle East. Click here to hear more from Palestine refugee students at UNRWA schools! Click here to hear more from Palestine refugee students at UNRWA schools. education during the coronavirus crisis how unrwa helps with education in emergencies With the responsibility for 533,000 Palestine refugee • Ensuring a safe and secure students, every day learning environment attending its 709 schools, for Palestine refugee and for 8,000 students children and youth that of its Vocational Training supports their physical and Centres, UNRWA worked emotional wellbeing meet obaida: throughout the COVID-19 an engineer in the making crisis to ensure that the • Relevant and quality students were actively teaching and learning, benefitting from self- including alternative “I’m very happy that UNRWA schools presence of rival armed groups. learning, psychosocial methods of teaching and opened on time this year.