The ongoing conflict in Syria is increasingly encroaching on UNRWA camps, and the Agency estimates that over half of the 529,000 Palestine refugees in Syria are now displaced, either within Syria or to neighbouring countries, including Lebanon and Jordan . The Saudi contribution will support UNRWA efforts to continue delivering food and cash assistance, as well as emergency relief, health and education services to the Palestine refugee population.

Welcoming the donation, UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi said: “With the areas of Syria where most Palestinians live seeing intensified fighting, the number of Palestine refugees displaced and destitute is growing by the day. Once again, Saudi Arabia has demonstrated its commitment to mitigating the suffering of Palestine refugees.”

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the major UNRWA donors. As the Agency’s foremost Arab partner, Saudi Arabia has provided consistent support to the Agency’s work in health, education, and relief and social services. It has also contributed to the reconstruction of Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, in Lebanon , and to a flagship project to rehouse Palestine refugees in Rafah, Gaza . Phase I of that project was inaugurated in February 2013.

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some five million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.

Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency’s General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 54.3 million.

In a press release issued on Friday, UFree stressed the need to respect the right of freedom of movement provided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International covenants on civil and political rights.

In this regard, the Network strongly condemned Palestinians’ arrest in Egypt illegally and the overuse of “deportation room” recently.

UFree documented dozens of detention cases in Cairo airport for more than five days in inhuman conditions. Palestinians are being held in rooms allocated for suspects and criminals without the most basic amenities. Large numbers of Palestinians were deliberately held in very small rooms suffering from food and medicines shortage.

Palestinian journalist, who demands not to reveal his name for security reasons, told UFree that he was detained with 15 Palestinians and 40 Egyptians crowded in a very small room for more than 10 hours, where they were treated as prisoners.

Palestinians who hold the status of “permanent resident” were deported to other countries while the rest were detained amid fears of threats and assaults, the journalist added.

Among those detained in the “deportation room” at Cairo airport, two Palestinians were managed to travel to Yemen, another was able to travel to Jordan, while three Palestinians were managed to travel to Tunisia, while the rest have declared an open hunger strike protesting their ill-treatment, he said.

The Egyptian authorities have banned the entry of any Palestinian to the Egyptian territories even though they are in possession of a valid visa. Hundreds of pilgrims are stuck in Saudi Arabia as the Egyptian authorities refused their return to Gaza strip.

UFree Network called on Egyptian authorities to put an end to the deportation and detention policy against Palestinians especially that most of the detained travelers were in their way for treatment.

On the same context, UFree has documented several arrest cases among Palestinians who hold permanent or temporary residency in Egypt without any legal justification amid an unprecedented media incitement against Palestinians for political reasons.

UFree Network called on Egyptian authorities to stop immediately the arbitrary illegal arrest campaign against Palestinians in Egypt.

UFree also urges the Arab League to intervene urgently for the protection of Palestinian residents in Egypt and Palestinian travelers as well and to pressure the Egyptian authorities to put an end to such violations.

“Based on the assurances UNRWA in Gaza received from different local parties, the Agency will reopen its installations across the Gaza Strip effective today, Tuesday 9 April,” UNRWA said in a statement.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been demonstrating outside the UNRWA office in Gaza since last week, in response to a programme cut necessitated by budget shortfalls according to the agency.

Protests against the cuts turned violent on 4 April, when demonstrators stormed the UNRWA office in Gaza, leading to the closure of all relief and distribution centers, which together provide food to more than 800,000 Gazans altogether.

“UNRWA was forced to close its distribution and relief offices last week due to ongoing demonstrations that affected its operations, a regrettable decision that hindered the Agency’s ability to provide much needed services and relief supplies to Palestine refugees in Gaza,” UNRWA said.

“While UNRWA understands the frustration of the population, heightened by the tightened blockade on the Gaza Strip, and respects the right to peaceful demonstrations, UNRWA must ensure the safety and security of its staff. UNRWA in Gaza reaffirms that while it is re-opening these facilities now, if its staff or facilities are threatened or operations hindered by demonstrations in the future, it will again be forced to close those installations.”

UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) provides assistance, protection and advocacy for some 5 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory, pending a solution to their plight.

UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states.

According to Maan news agency Kerry offered President Mahmoud Abbas incentives to return to direct negotiations with Israel.

Kerry offered to release all Palestinian funds and to ensure Israel does not withhold Palestinian tax revenue in the future, and to extend the Palestinian Authority’s jurisdiction, particularly in Area C , according to Maan.

The 60 percent of the West Bank under exclusive Israeli control.

According to AFP, Abbas seeks a return to direct talks, but demanded that Israel must stop illegal settlement building and release Palestinian prisoners.

The last round of direct negotiations collapsed in late 2010.

Kerry is on a 10-day tour, met with Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul before meeting with Abbas.

“Turkey can be a key, an important contribution to the process of peace in so many ways,” Kerry told reporters in a joint press conference.

Meanwhile, a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The rocket crashed into southern Israel as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leader.

Following the incident, Israel’s army closed a goods crossing into the Gaza Strip on Monday.Kerry is to hold separate talks on Monday with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli President Shimon Peres. On Tuesday he meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ongoing Palestinian protests against the Israeli occupation have further escalated this week following renewed anger over detention conditions of Palestinian political detainees and prisoners, including the death in custody of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, a Palestinian prisoner with cancer held by Israel since 2002.

The protests look set to continue following the deaths of two Palestinian teenagers who were killed by Israeli forces at a military post near the settlement of Enav in the northern West Bank on Wednesday.

“For years we and other human rights organizations have documented how the Israeli army has used excessive force against protesters in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, often resulting in unlawful killings and injuries,” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty |nternational’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Israel must take urgent steps to ensure its forces in the West Bank limit the use of live fire to situations when their own lives or others are genuinely in danger in order to avoid further unlawful deaths and injuries.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented more than 1,000 injuries of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in the West Bank during January and February 2013.

Amnesty International has previously raised concerns that Israel’s military investigations fail to meet international standards and result in near-total impunity for those responsible for unlawful killings. Any killing or serious injury of a civilian by Israeli armed forces should be investigated promptly, independently, and impartially so that those responsible can be held to account and victims and their relatives can claim redress.

“While we recognize that the Israeli army, as the occupying power, has a responsibility to maintain law and order, it is also obliged to protect Palestinian civilians and must adhere to international policing standards,” said Harrison.

“Israeli forces must respect Palestinians’ right to protest peacefully, including against Israeli policies and practices such as the building of settlements on occupied land, which is a serious violation of international law and amounts to a war crime when pursued as a consistent policy, as in Israel’s case.”

“The incident is a dramatic and disturbing escalation in a series of demonstrations that have taken place over the past week,” the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement.

“These demonstrations affect our ability to provide much-needed service to the Palestine refugees in Gaza and – because they also targeted the Gaza headquarters building – our operations in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.”

Many of UNRWA’s other facilities had already been shut down due to demonstrations. With this additional protest, UNRWA said the safety of its staff is of crucial concern, and that it would close all its relief and distribution centres “until guarantees are given by all relevant groups that UN operations can continue unhindered.”

Thursday’s breach followed an announcement by UNRWA that it would reduce its cash assistance programme due to budget shortfalls.

The Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza, Robert Turner, said that to mitigate the effects of the reductions, the Agency had introduced and expanded its Job Creation Programme to the poorest refugee families in Gaza.

In addition, UNRWA’s large-scale food distribution programme, with over 800,000 beneficiaries, “will continue unchanged.”

Mr. Turner said that while the Agency respects people’s right to peaceful demonstration, what happened today was “completely unacceptable.”

“The situation could very easily have resulted in serious injuries to UNRWA staff and to the demonstrators. This escalation, apparently pre-planned, was unwarranted and unprecedented.”

UNRWA called on all the groups behind today’s incident “to immediately stop inciting crowds at these demonstrations and to conduct themselves in a responsible manner.”

It also called on authorities to play their role in providing security and ensuring demonstrations remain peaceful, and encouraged donors to continue to fund UNRWA’s vital relief programmes.

The conference was held at MADA’s headquarter in Ramallah on the morning of 27 March 2013.

Opening remarks were delivered by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr. Ghazi Hanania, who noted that the past year witnessed a serious escalation in violations against journalists by the Israeli forces, who, he says, had no qualms with killing three journalists deliberately during Israel’s latest offensive against the Gaza Strip.

Hanania added, “The Israeli authorities were not even bothered to justify their murders which conveys to what extent Israel’s disregard for laws and international conventions has reached. Not only that, but its disregard for the lives of Palestinian journalists, whereby not only their freedom to express themselves has been violated but also the most important human right, the right to live.”

MADA’s annual report for 2012 explains that the status of media freedom in Palestine has had no promising signs of improvement since the start of the year. As journalists began the year with violations and attacks on their rights, they said their farewell to 2012 with the loss of three colleagues: Aqsa TV cameraman Mahmoud Alkoumi, 30-years-old, Aqsa TV photographer Hussam Salameh, also 30-years-old, and Executive Director of the Jerusalem Educational Radio Muhamed Moussa Abu Eisha, 24-years-old.

MADA also reported 238 violations against journalists and Palestinian media outlets during the past year. The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have committed approximately 70 per cent of the overall total with 164 violations, while different Palestinian factions committed 74 violations altogether, the equivalent of about 30 per cent of the total violations. In comparison with 2011 the violations have increased by about 11.5 per cent which translates roughly into 32 violations.

MADA’s General Director, Mousa Rimawi, outlined the violations committed by the Israeli forces in Palestine, and mentioned that the Israeli forces turned 2012 into a year of hell for journalists and media outlets, where they committed egregious violations against journalists, most notably the killing of the three journalists mentioned above, the bombing of media organizations headquarters and journalists’ homes, and the serious physical assaults some journalists have been subjected. Rimawi added that the Israeli forces not only committed awful violations but have also amplified them by 65 per cent with 164 violations committed in 2012 compared to 100 violations in 2011.

Rimawi explained that the increase in the number and type of violations committed is due to several factors, most notably the power of the Palestinian image and word, and the key role that the Palestinian press plays in shaping the world’s public opinion and reporting on violations committed against them by the occupation. Another factor is that the occupation has never been held accountable or punished for its crimes against journalists and media freedoms, which therefore encourages members of the occupational forces to commit more violations without consideration to human rights and international laws and conventions that guarantee freedom of expression and protection for journalists.

The annual report contains important details about the number of media freedom violations, the types of violations, the dangers associated with them, and the cities most vulnerable to them.

The press conference began with a minute of silence in tribute to the martyrs of the press in Palestine and around the world.

“It may eventually visit Gaza and the West Bank in April,” state news agency Anatolia quoted Erdogan as saying.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh had already announced March 22, hours after Israel’s apology, that Erdoğan would visit Gaza soon.

Taher al-Nunu, spokesman for Ismael Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas government in the Gaza, confirmed that “Recep Tayyip Erdogan will soon visit the Gaza Strip where he will meet with Prime Minister (Haniyeh)”.

After three years of strained relations Israel issued a formal apology to Turkey and agreed to pay compensation over the Mavi Marmara killings of 2010 on March 22 after a phone conversation between the two countries’ premiers, Benjamin Netanyahu and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On May 31, 2010 the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) boarded the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in a flotilla aimed at breaking Israel’s siege on Gaza in May 2010, leaving nine pro-Palestinian activists dead.

Turkey demanded a formal apology but Israel refused to make a formal apology and pay conpensation to families of the dead. As a result, expelled Jerusalem’s ambassador from Ankara.

Diplomatic ties were severely downgraded, ever since.

Meanwhile Foreign Minister Davutoglu said in a statement that tough negotiations were conducted in the last 3 years concerning Turkey’s demands from Israel with a view to normalization of relations and in the end Turkey’s demands were met.

Pointing that the content of the phone call between Prime Minister Erdoğan and Israeli Prime Minister was agreed in advance, Foreign Minister Davutoglu mentioned that negotiations were held through U.S. officials.

Prior to the phone call between the Prime Ministers, officials of Al Fatah, Hamas, Egypt and Qatar were contacted, added Foreign Minister Davutoglu.

Recalling that Israel did not object the compensation but opposed the demand for apology from the very beginning Foreign Minister Davutoglu explained that there would be negotiations concerning the compensation to the victims’ families in respect of international law.

Foreign Minister Davutoglu said that the easing of embargo on Gaza started and stressed that Turkey would closely monitor the practice concerning the embargo.

Foreign Minister Davutoglu pointing the timing of the recent development said that this step would strengthen the position of Palestine and would crystallize Turkey’s role in the Middle East Peace Process.

While attention during US President Barack Obama’s visit to Jordan on March 22, 2013, focused on the large number of Syrian refugees that Jordan has welcomed and accommodated since the start of the Syrian crisis in March 2011, its rejection of these categories of asylum seekers fleeing the violence should not be ignored, Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Clinic said. Obama should seek assurances from King Abdullah II that Jordan will not reject any asylum seekers at its border with Syria. The risks to their lives in Syria are too serious to send anyone back at the present time.

“King Abdullah’s support for 350,000 Syrian refugees deserves President Obama’s praise, but Obama should not give Jordan a free pass to force Palestinian refugees and asylum seekers back to Syria,” said Bill Frelick, Refugee Program director at Human Rights Watch. “Jordan should recognize that everyone – and that includes Palestinian refugees, single men, and undocumented people – has the right not to be forcibly sent back to Syria to face the risk of death or serious harm.”

In two separate trips to Jordan and Lebanon, in January and February, Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Clinic conducted in-depth interviews with more than 120 Syrian and Palestinian refugees from Syria. Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Clinic documented that, as a matter of policy, Jordan is turning back people from Syria at its border without adequately considering the risk to them. Such a policy violates the international law principle of nonrefoulement, which forbids governments from returning refugees and asylum seekers to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened.

The total number of asylum seekers rejected at the border since the fighting began in Syria is not known. But many of the Syrian and Palestinian refugees Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Clinic interviewed in Jordan said that they saw Palestinians, single men, and undocumented people from their groups being refused entry at the border or forcibly returned after initial screening at a police center in Mafraq determined that they belonged in one of these groups.

Witnesses said that border guards explicitly warn members of these groups that they are not allowed to enter Jordan, sometimes forcing them to return directly to places in Syria where violent clashes are occurring without any consideration for the risk they face. One Syrian man married to a Palestinian woman recounted what a Jordanian Border Patrol officer told him at the border on December 16, 2012:

“You can come, but she is not allowed because she’s Palestinian.” I told them our house is burned down and that we have no house to go back to. The Border Patrol officer said, “That is not our problem.” I begged him. My wife and children were begging and crying not to be sent back. He said, “It is impossible,” and put us in a military vehicle and took us to the border.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour has publicly announced Jordan’s policy to reject Palestinian refugees from Syria. In October, he told Al-Hayat, “Jordan has made a clear and explicit sovereign decision not to allow the crossing to Jordan by our Palestinian brothers who hold Syrian documents.”

Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Clinic also found that some Palestinian asylum seekers who have managed to enter Jordan are at risk of refoulement to Syria. Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Clinic documented cases in which at least eight Palestinians have been forcibly returned to Syria from inside Jordan since September.

Mahmoud Murjan and his wife and children were forcibly returned from Cyber City, a detention facility in Jordan, to Syria on September 25. Murjan was arrested at his home in Syria 20 days after he was forcibly returned, and his body was later dumped on the street in front of his father’s house, showing bullet wounds and signs of torture.

In this detention facility all refugee movements are restricted. However, the Jordanian authorities are much more flexible toward Syrian refugees and often grant humanitarian “bailout,” whereas Palestinian refugees are only rarely granted such leave.

“The detention of Palestinians in Cyber City, as well as discriminating against Palestinians and single males as ineligible to seek asylum within Jordan, violates Jordan’s international legal obligations,” said Meera Shah, clinical advocacy fellow at the Harvard Clinic. “Jordan should treat individuals in these categories the same as all other asylum seekers fleeing the fighting in Syria.”

Prior to the conflict in Syria, an estimated 500,000 Palestinian refugees lived there. Like the rest of the Syrian population, Palestinians have suffered from the violence. Palestinians interviewed by Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Clinic reported fleeing their homes in Syria because of aerial bombardment or the destruction of their homes by shelling and bombing. Others were personally targeted by the Syrian government, and had been arrested and mistreated or tortured.

Many said they chose to seek asylum in Lebanon because they knew the Jordanian border was closed to them. Lebanon has kept its border open to Palestinian refugees from Syria, although it requires them to pay a visa fee equivalent to US$17 per person, which is not required of Syrian refugees entering Lebanon. Lebanon hosts 32,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria, according to the United Nations.

The report entitled Fiscal Challenges and Long Term Economic Costs was released today ahead of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) meeting, a forum of donors to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which will meet in Brussels on March 19. The report analyzes the state of the Palestinian economy and the PA’s fiscal position.

The Bank’s analysis of the prospects for an economically viable Palestinian State in the near future remains largely unchanged: Palestinian institutions have the required capacity to exercise state functions, but Israeli-imposed economic restrictions continue to constrain sustainable economic growth. This situation is unlikely to change as long as political progress remains absent.

This latest report, however, offers new analysis by exploring the long-term damage to the competitiveness of the Palestinian economy wrought by the worsening fiscal situation and the absence of political progress.

The economy is in danger of losing its capacity to compete in the global market, according to the report. It shows that the structure of the economy has deteriorated since the late 90’s as the value-added of the tradable sectors has declined, illustrated by the productivity of the agriculture sector having roughly halved and the manufacturing sector having largely stagnated.

The share of exports in the Palestinian economy has also been in steady decline since 1994, dropping to 7 percent in 2011, one of the lowest in the world. Moreover, Palestinian exports are concentrated in low value-added goods and services, the majority of which is exported to Israel.

Of equal importance to the long-term viability of the economy, the quality of infrastructure in key sectors like water and transport is deteriorating and damaging economic productivity. This negative impact is most severe in Gaza where significant resources are required to bring the level of infrastructure performance to a desirable level.

The labor force, too, could lose long-term employability, say the report’s authors. With low labor force participation and high rates and duration of unemployment, many Palestinians of working age do not have the opportunity to develop on-the-job skills. Increased employment in the public sector has provided some short-term relief, but this is unsustainable and does little to prepare employees for future private sector jobs.

“Continued financial support by the donor community, and increased reform efforts by the Palestinian Authority to manage the current fiscal challenges must remain a high priority,” said Mariam Sherman, World Bank Country Director for the West Bank and Gaza. “However, much bolder efforts to create the basis for a viable economy need to be made to prevent the continued deterioration that will have lasting and costly implications for economic competiveness and social cohesion.”