Denmark offers aid to Palestinians

17 May, 2006

Denmark said Tuesday it would give seven million kroner (1.2 million dollars, 940,000 euros) in emergency humanitarian aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to help ease the financial crisis brought on by the international boycott of the Hamas government.
The Danish funding comes in response to a United Nations appeal to international donors, Development Aid Minister Ulla Toernaes said in a statement.
The United States and the European Union, the main donor to the Palestinians giving 500 million euros a year, both suspended aid to the Palestinians after the group Hamas won elections in January.
The boycott has left the Palestinian Authority on the verge of bankruptcy.
The Danish government gives 60 million kroner (8.04 million euros, 10.3 million dollars) a year to the UN refugee agency for the Palestinians (UNRWA) for its education and health programs.
The head of the UNRWA, Karen Abu Zayd, is currently touring the Nordic countries and is scheduled to visit Denmark on Thursday and Friday.
She is expected to meet with members of the Danish parliament's standing committee on foreign affairs and will give a speech to the Danish Institute for International Studies on the situation in the Palestinian territories.

Read Comments