US embassy cable - 02AMMAN6939

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006939 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA AND PRM; PLEASE PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/27/2012 
TAGS: PREF, PREL, EAID, KPAL, KWBG, IS, JO, UN 
SUBJECT: UNRWA AND FAA 301(C) COMPLIANCE:  VIEWS FROM GAZA 
 
REF: STATE 235520 
 
Classified By: DCM Gregory L. Berry, per 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (U) This message has been cleared by Embassy Tel Aviv. 
 
2.  (C) Summary:  In the course of November 18 meetings with 
UNRWA's Gaza program chiefs, regional refcoord reviewed 
UNRWA's compliance with section 301(c) of the Foreign 
Assistance Act.  The Relief and Social Services Chief told 
refcoord that UNRWA's social workers play a key role in 
enforcing 301(C) compliance, by reporting problematic 
behavior to UNRWA's eight camp services officers.  Through 
this informal reporting system, UNRWA has been able to remove 
known terrorists from its benefit rolls but in some cases 
continues to provide services to the terrorists' families. 
UNRWA screens beneficiaries of its emergency food and jobs 
programs only to ensure that refugees have not received 
assistance from other organizations.  Temporary laborers 
hired under the emergency programs are hired directly by 
UNRWA's Administrative Department on 45-day contracts and 
UNRWA does not conduct reference checks on these 
beneficiaries.  However, UNRWA does conduct reference checks 
on all long-term direct-hire employees employed with 
emergency appeal funding.  UNRWA staff also clarified the 
agency's relationship to youth activity centers (YAC).  Only 
one YAC -- in Mwassi -- is co-located with an UNRWA program 
office.  While UNRWA provides financial support only for 
specific programming, other organizations -- including Hamas 
-- also provide financial support to the YACs and hold 
political activities on their premises.  Finally, UNRWA is 
interviewing candidates for the US-funded OSO positions and 
will have the team of 8 international and Palestinian staff 
in place by early January.  End summary. 
 
Relief Services 
--------------- 
 
3.  (C) As in the West Bank, UNRWA's Gaza field office 
screens relief beneficiaries only to ensure that they meet 
UNRWA's needs-based criteria, which includes the stipulation 
that beneficiaries not have any means of support other than 
UNRWA.  To monitor beneficiaries, UNRWA's 75 social workers 
pay at least one home visit per year to the 17,000 special 
hardship case families in Gaza.  According to Gaza Relief and 
Social Services chief Aqil AbuShammalah, UNRWA social workers 
"know everything" that happens in the camps and report any 
problematic behavior to UNRWA's eight camp services officers, 
ensuring that refugees who engage in suspect behavior do not 
receive UNRWA benefits.  AbuShammalah cautioned, however, 
that this informal reporting system is dependent on 
confidentiality and assurances that information will remain 
 
SIPDIS 
only within the UNRWA system.  Noting that several 
Palestinians have been murdered on suspicions that they 
collaborated with Israeli authorities, AbuShammalah said 
UNRWA social workers would not be willing to continue sharing 
information about activities within the camps if they felt it 
would be passed outside UNRWA.  He asserted that specific 
training on FAA 301(C) issues, as proposed in PRM's November 
1 letter to UNRWA ComGen Peter Hansen (ref), would create 
precisely the wrong impression and turn off an otherwise 
useful source of information. 
 
4.  (C) AbuShammalah also told refcoord that UNRWA has 
removed known criminals from its relief rolls, citing the 
case of a would-be bombmaker who was injured in a Jabaliya 
camp "work accident."  Although the now disabled would-be 
bombmaker normally would qualify for UNRWA assistance, the 
circumstances of his injury caused UNRWA to remove him from 
its relief rolls.  Yet UNRWA continues to provide relief 
services to the bombmaker's wife and children.  Similarly, 
AbuShammalah said, UNRWA recently built a new home for the 
family of a terrorist killed by the Israelis, whose Khan 
Younis home was demolished by the IDF.  "Can UNRWA engage in 
a policy of collective punishment?"  AbuShammalah asked 
refcoord. 
 
Temporary Employment Programs 
----------------------------- 
 
5.  (C) In Gaza, UNRWA's emergency appeal-funded temporary 
employment programs are run directly by UNRWA's 
Administrative Department.  The Administrative Department and 
Relief and Social Services Department screen applicants to 
ensure that they meet UNRWA's needs-based criteria (again, 
including to determine whether applicants receive relief from 
any other organizations), and rank-order applicants in 
accordance with family size.  Priority is given to refugees 
with more than 12 dependents.  Refugees are then hired on 
45-day contracts to perform manual labor on the many 
infrastructure projects underway with emergency funds. 
Relief and Social Services Chief AbuShammalah told refcoord 
UNRWA does not conduct reference checks on applicants for the 
45-day labor contracts.  Noting that UNRWA's Gaza field has 
approved 95,000 temporary employment applications since the 
emergency jobs program started in January 2001.  AbuShammalah 
and Gaza Deputy Director Christer Nordahl said UNRWA does not 
have the staff resources required to conduct reference checks 
on this extremely large beneficiary pool. 
 
6.  (C) A significant number of temporary employees also has 
been hired directly by UNRWA on contracts ranging from three 
to 12 months, to work on direct UNRWA programming.  In the 
health sector, for example, UNRWA has increased its clinic 
staff by 20 percent to meet a 20 percent increase in the 
demand for services.  In the environmental health department, 
UNRWA has hired 1,300 new sanitation workers.  In the 
education department, UNRWA has hired 104 full-time 
counselors to help students cope with the psychological 
effects of violence.  It also has hired 35 new school 
janitors with emergency appeal funding.  The department 
chiefs assured refcoord that UNRWA conducts reference checks 
on all long-term direct-hired employees hired with emergency 
appeal funding. 
 
Emergency Food Assistance 
------------------------- 
 
7.  (C) Under UNRWA's emergency programs, the agency 
currently is providing food assistance to 125,000 of the 
193,000 registered refugee families in Gaza.  Relief and 
Social Services Chief AbuShammalah told refcoord UNRWA 
screens emergency food aid beneficiaries only to ensure that 
they are not employed by UNRWA or the PA.  UNRWA Gaza Deputy 
Director Nordahl told refcoord UNRWA does not have the 
personnel or financial resources to conduct any further 
screening of food assistance beneficiaries. 
 
Emergency Health Programming Limited to Refugees 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
8.  (C) Unlike in the West Bank, UNRWA's Gaza health 
department is not serving a significant number of 
non-refugees.  Due to the small geographic size of Gaza and 
close proximity of PA health centers, non-refugees have been 
continuously able to access PA and private health services. 
(In the West Bank, however, severe closures have forced 
non-refugees to turn to nearby UNRWA health clinics for care, 
and vice versa.)  According to Health Director Dr. Ayub Alam, 
UNRWA's health services to the non-refugee population in Gaza 
have been limited to temporary loans of supplies and 
medicines to PA clinics during periods of total closure in 
Gaza.  Gaza Deputy Director Nordahl told refcoord all loans 
to PA clinics have been repaid. 
 
Youth Activity Centers 
---------------------- 
 
9.  (C) Relief and Social Services Chief AbuShammalah 
explained that only one youth activity center -- in Mwassi -- 
is located in an UNRWA-owned building.  Although the Mwassi 
YAC shares space with UNRWA's relief and social services 
office, no UN flag flies over the premises.  UNRWA's real 
relationship with YACs in Gaza exists in the small cash 
subsidies -- USD 3,000 to 4,000 per year -- provided for 
specific programming such as sporting events or after-school 
activities.  AbuShammalah explained that other organizations, 
including Hamas and various Palestinian political factions, 
also provide cash subsidies to the YACs and hold political 
events in their premises.  The YACs also support their 
programming by renting their premises for weddings and 
nonpolitical community events.  Although UNRWA insists that 
the YACs enforce a strict no-weapons policy at all events as 
a condition for its continued financial support, AbuShammalah 
admitted that the agency has no control over the content of 
programming at the YACs. 
 
US-Funded OSO Program 
--------------------- 
 
10.  (U) With USD 1.46 million in US special project funding, 
UNRWA is in the process of hiring eight new international 
staff to serve as Operations Support Officers (OSOs).  Among 
other responsibilities, the OSOs will monitor UNRWA 
installations and programs to ensure they are not misused. 
In the West Bank, where the agency had already begun 
recruitment for five non US-funded OSO positions in mid-2002, 
UNRWA quickly identified qualified staff from an existing 
pool of applicants and will have the new OSO team in place by 
the end of November.  In Gaza, UNRWA only began reviewing 
applicants after the West Bank had selected its OSOs.  Deputy 
Gaza Director Christer Nordahl told refcoord that UNRWA will 
interview OSOs during the week of November 24 and will have 
the complete OSO team in place by early January. 
GNEHM