Palestinian Affairs Department holds regional coordination meeting

AMMAN — A coordination meeting for Arab countries hosting Palestinian refugees was held on Sunday at the Department of Palestinian Affairs, with delegations from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt and the Arab League, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Director of the Department of Palestinian Affairs Yaseen Abu Awwad announced that the meeting was held to coordinate Arab efforts before holding the meeting of the consultation committee of UNRWA in Amman on May 22 and 23. 

Abu Awwad highlighted Jordan’s role in supporting the Palestinian cause and its continuous efforts to serve refugees and support UNRWA’s work, in addition to noting the lack of services provided to the refugees due to a lack of funding. 

Jordan offers more than JD1 billion annually to help Palestinian refugees, he said, adding that this is more than UNRWA gives. 

The consultation committee’s meeting is scheduled to cover the conditions of UNRWA’s health, education and relief programmes, in addition to coordinating the stances of Arab countries hosting refugees in order to encourage donor countries to abide by the commitments they made to UNRWA.