RAMALLAH, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned on Wednesday of halting its basic services, including education, by early September.
"The agency may not be able to provide its services to Palestinian refugees in early September if the financial crisis it is experiencing is not resolved," UNRWA spokesman Sami Mashashaa told the official Voice of Palestine radio.
He added that despite the recent generous donations from some countries, UNRWA still suffers from a large financial deficit exceeding 200 million U.S. dollars.
"The agency will strive to bridge the gap through the convening of international conferences to highlight the financial crisis," he added.
He said that UNRWA Commissioner-General will soon travel to Germany and other countries, and will conduct meetings to mobilize the necessary support to keep the regular services of the agency.
In January, the agency launched a global campaign entitled "No price values dignity" to raise funds for its budget and avoid the risk of disruption of services it provides to the Palestinian refugees.
Since the launch of its campaign of donations, UNRWA has received 150 million U.S. dollars from Rome International Conference, which convened last month, besides 50 million dollars from Saudi Arabia.
The United States, the main donor to UNRWA, announced earlier this year that it withheld 65 million dollars of the total grant of 125 million dollars that was planned for UNRWA.
Washington later suspended 45 million dollars of food aid it had pledged to the agency. The U.S. move was made to pressure on the Palestinians to resume the Middle East peace negotiations with Israel.
More than 5 million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will suffer if the agency is shut down.
In Gaza alone, which has been under a tight Israeli blockade since 2007, UNRWA takes care of some 1.3 million refugees living in eight camps.
