EU food aid to the Palestinian populations

The European Commission has approved food aid worth €5 million for the Palestinian populations of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This decision is designed to ensure that those in need have access to adequate food supplies in the coming months. This assistance will fund the purchase of 7,400 tons of wheat flour and 3,200 tons of rice, which will be distributed among the poorest families of the non-refugee Palestinian population in the Territories. With an estimated overall target population of 265,000 people, this contribution will provide relief to those households that have become more and more exposed to the risk of food insecurity during the escalating crisis.

This initiative constitutes the response by the Commission to the emergency appeal launched by the World Food Programme (WFP) in late 2001, as a consequence of the recent deterioration of the food security situation in the territories.

The Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Mr. Poul Nielson, commented, "The needs of the Palestinian population, already serious, have been made worse by the current situation. This food aid decision comes on top of what was already programmed for 2002 and addresses basic needs from a more medium-term perspective. We will continue to take whatever additional short-term emergency relief measures are necessary to help alleviate the current suffering."

The distribution of food will be carried out by the WFP in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, while the monitoring of the field operations will be ensured jointly by the WFP and the European Commission. The EU will ensure the procurement, transport and delivery of the foodstuffs. The food is scheduled to reach the Palestinian Territories within the next 2 months.

This new allocation comes in addition to the EUR15 million that the Food Security Unit of the European Commission grants UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) every year. The grants in question finance the food aid and cash assistance programme run by that organization. The cash assistance is primarily directed at some 220,000 Palestinians that live in refugee camps inside Syria, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon, and which the organization has classified as special hardship cases.

| Arriba |

• EU Presidency Statement - The Middle East (13/6/2002)
• EU humanitarian aid for Palestinian Territories (8/5/2002)
• Discurso UE en el Consejo de Seguridad sobre la situación en Oriente Proximo (3/5/2002)
• Declaración Conjunta de la UE, Estados Unidos, Rusia y las Naciones Unidas sobre Oriente Medio  (10/4/2002)
• Intervención en el Consejo de Seguridad sobre la situación en el Oriente Medio, incluida la cuestión Palestina (9/4/2002)
• EU humanitarian activities in the Palestinian Territories (8/4/2002)
• EU budgetary assistance to Palestinian Authority (3/4/2002)