Palestinian refugees to protest UNRWA''s service reduction plans

GAZA, Feb 25 (KUNA) -- The popular committees of the Palestinian refugees in camps in Gaza Strip said Saturday they would stage wide-scale sit-ins in protest of UNRWA's decision to reduce services.

The committees said in different statements the sit-ins would be held in front of the food supply centers of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in six out of eight refugee camps in Gaza.

The sit-ins are in protest of UNRWA's "arbitrary policy aims at stopping financial and material aid to many of our refugee (Palestinian) people here in camps in Palestine and there in camps in diaspora." The committees called on all Palestinians in Gaza to participate in the sit-ins, to remind UNRWA of its commitment to help the Palestinians who were forced out of their homes and lands by Israel in 1948.

During the sit-ins, the protesters will call for "no starvation policy," "no humiliation" and "give us our rights and return us to our lands and houses" in line with UN resolution 194.

Meanwhile, director general of the Camps Affairs Department at the PLO Jawdat Judeh said there were rising concern among the Palestinian refugees in Gaza following UNRWA's decision to reduce its services to refugees. more