Press Briefing

By the Head of the Palestine Refugee Agency in Vienna

Wednesday, 1 July 2009, 11:00 hours
OFID Headquarters, Vienna

Summary Report

VIENNA, 1 July - The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Karen Koning AbuZayd accepted a grant from the OPEC Fund for International Development for a microfinance fund for Palestine Refugees and the first donation to a new Scholarship Fund for Talented Palestinians in a special ceremony and press briefing held at OFID's headquarters in Vienna today (1 July 2009). The press briefing was organized jointly by the Society for Austro-Arab Relations, UNRWA and OFID with support from UNIS Vienna.

The Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Suleiman Al-Herbish OFID announced an additional contribution of three million dollars to the OFID Micro Enterprises for Palestine Fund (PALFUND), which will be administered by UNRWA which supports the Palestinian private sector through a micro-finance scheme.

He also announced a grant of one million dollars to the Scholarship Fund which is being established on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of UNRWA. The scholarship programme will provide higher education opportunities to Palestinian students from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and refugee camps in neighbouring countries.

The ceremony announcing the donation from OFID was also attended by the Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad Al-Malki, the Ambassador of the League of Arab States Mission in Austria, Mikhail Wehbe, the Ambassador of Morocco to Austria, Omar Zniber, and the Ambassador of Lebanon to Austrian and the Dean of the Arab Diplomatic Corps, Zuheir Elwazer.

The briefing also heard from the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Karen Koning AbuZayd on the current situation in Gaza and the challenges facing both Palestine Refugees and the agency in the task of delivering essential humanitarian aid in Gaza and implementing its programme in line with its mandate. Ms. AbuZayd said because of the closure of Gaza there was no rebuilding work going on there but they had hope that things would improve in the future.

Commenting on a recent report on the situation in Gaza by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Ms. AbuZayd said the ICRC report was very important and the condition people were living in was getting worse day by day. She said the team from the Human Rights Council which has visited Gaza had been shocked and outraged by what they had seen and heard. Asked about the possibility of UNRWA being abolished she said that everyone wanted to see the end of UNRWA because that would mean there were no more Palestine refugees and it would be the end of the peace process but, she added, we would have to wait for that to happen.

UNRWA Commissioner-General, Karen AbuZayd (second from right) being interviewed by journalists at a press briefing at OFID's Vienna headquarters watched by UNIS Director, Maher Nasser (on right)

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