The head of the main United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees has stressed the importance of Syria’s contribution in helping it perform its work.

“The continuing generosity of the Syrian Government is vital to enable UNRWA to carry out its mission,” the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Karen Koning AbuZayd, said at the end of a visit last week to Syria, which hosts more than 400,000 Palestinian refugees.

Ms. AbuZayd met with Syrian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdullah Dardrai, Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara'a, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Dyala Haj ‘Aref and the Director-General of the General Authority for Palestine Arab Refugees, Ali Mustafa, briefing them on developments taking place in UNRWA.

Addressing the refugee community in Jaramana Camp, she underlined the significance of the UNRWA’s continued services to the refugees in Syria “until a just and lasting solution to their problem is reached.

“The Agency will continue to improve the living conditions of Palestine refugees without prejudice to their rights,” she added.

Management from GAPAR, along with representatives from the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) are attending the conference
from 15 to 18 August to review refugee needs and achievements thus
far, and to plan ahead.

According to GAPAR, the agencies will be focusing on the
implementation of better infrastructure in the camps, including
sewage systems, access to drinking water and maintenance of utilities.

GAPAR is the government department responsible for just over 400,000
Palestinian refugees, residing mainly in a total of 12 camps across
the country with the majority in Damascus.

"They are treated on equal-footing basis with Syrian citizens in all
life aspects, even though they retain the Palestinian citizenship,"
noted the Director General of GAPAR, Ali Mustafa.

Patricia McPhillips, Officer-in-Charge of UNRWA affairs for Syria,
commented, "The greatest of these challenges is improving living
conditions for refugees, attaining access to quality free education,
and ensuring healthcare and social services for all."

She said there was a pressing need for additional space in refugee
schools, as classrooms were overcrowded and up to 50 pupils per class
were common.

Since 1950, UNRWA has been the main provider of basic education to
Palestinian refugee children, offering nine years of schooling free
of charge at almost 115 schools throughout Syria.

"UNRWA always suffers from financial constraints; hence, the agency
cannot meet all needs of refugees," McPhillips said.

The agency launched a medium-term plan early this year to enhance the
ability of refugees to support themselves over the next five years.

One of the main projects involves moving some of the 5,000 families
from the barracks at Neirab, in the city of Aleppo, to the nearby
camp of Ein el-Tal.

"About five families live in each barrack under catastrophic
conditions where basic services are not available, such as sewerage,
drinking water and ventilation," Mustafa explained.

Over the years the barracks - where the streets are no wider than the
length of a child's arms - have become more densely crowded and less
hygienic, he said. Provision has been made for 300 families, or
approximately 1,500 people, to be transferred voluntarily by the end
of 2006.

"Last year 28 Palestinian families moved from Neirab to new flats in
Ein el-Tal camp," Mustafa noted.

The barracks area will be rehabilitated for the remaining refugees,
according to UNRWA.

Most of the Palestinian refugees who fled to Syria after the 1948
Arab-Israeli conflict were from Zefat (Safad) in northern Palestine
and the coastal cities of Haifa and Jaffa.

"For the first time in 50 years I now feel there is hope that the
Palestinian people will one day be free," said 33-year-old Aqel, one
of around 1.8 million Palestinian refugees living in neighbouring
Jordan.

"It has raised hopes that the time will come when the occupation of
Palestine will end."

Amid the poverty and hopelessness of the squalid camps they inhabit,
even young Palestinians who have never set foot in the holy land
yearn one day to return. Many keep the keys to family homes their
parents and grandparents left behind after the creation of Israel in
1948.

Israel's plans to end a 38-year occupation of Gaza, which it captured
along with the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East war, sparked
jubilation among many of the 4 million Palestinian refugees scattered
in Arab countries.

Chanting "Today Gaza and tomorrow Jerusalem", scores of Palestinian
refugees took to the streets of Lebanon's largest camp, Ain
al-Hilweh, on Monday to celebrate.

Brandishing rifles in the air and performing the traditional dabke
dance, they hailed the evacuation as a step toward their eventual
return to their homes in what is now Israel.

"O God, the withdrawal gives me hope the Israelis may withdraw from
the rest of the Palestinian lands and of our return back to our
original homes," said Yasseen Ibrahim, a baker in the crowded camp on
the outskirts of Amman.

Amer Saleem, a teacher in the same camp, said: "Palestine is our land
and it's our homeland which Israel has to leave sooner or later."

PALESTINIAN VICTORY?

For many of the inhabitants living in makeshift homes with corrugated
iron roofs, the sight of Israeli civilians leaving settlements the
World Court has judged illegal, inspired feelings of nationalist
pride and defiance.

Some said the pullout was a victory for militant groups led by Hamas,
which waged armed attacks against Israeli civilians.

"It is the Israeli blood that was shed that forced (Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel) Sharon to retreat and the more the resistance grows
the more Israelis will leave our occupied land," said Khaled Abu
Natour, a grocer in Jordan's Baqaa camp.

Others are less optimistic. They say a long and bitter conflict lies
ahead and fear Israel will give up Gaza but consolidate its hold on
the West Bank to prevent the emergence of a viable Palestinian state.

"I believe the withdrawal leaves no more than a prison for the people
of Gaza because they have no borders or airport," said Sheikh Ahmad
Abu Sadad, living in the Jordan's Jerash camp.

Refugees also have their own concerns. They fear any future peace
settlement will forego any right of return for millions of
Palestinian refugees to land now inside Israel. They also fear
exclusion from a future Palestinian state.

"I am happy they are leaving, but I will dance in the street only
when Jerusalem is back to us and we are back to it," said Um Nidal, a
mother of 12 living in a camp near Damascus.

"I am willing to give all my sons to the resistance to make this
happen." (Additional reporting by Ali Hashisho in southern Lebanon
and Inal Ersan in Damascus)

Zuhair Irsan prefers life in a makeshift refugee camp on the Syrian-Iraqi border to staying in Baghdad where he says Palestinians like him are being targeted for no reason.

"I came here fleeing death and detention. I was arrested for 75 days, during which I saw death many times," said the 50-year-old man who recently fled the capital with his wife and two children and has been trying to enter Syria for weeks.
"I was detained by the (Iraqi) Interior Ministry just because I'm a Palestinian and the ministry refuses to renew our residency."

Although their hopes are dim that the Syrian authorities will allow them into the country, the 194 Palestinians camped here are reluctant to return to Baghdad.

Palestinians began flocking to the Tanaf checkpoint on the Syria-Iraq border, some 190 miles northeast of Damascus, on May 11, two days after Syrian authorities allowed 287 Palestinians who were stranded for two months on the Iraq-Jordan border to enter its territory in what Syria said was a "humanitarian" gesture.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has said it will not allow additional Palestinians coming from Iraq to enter its territory. Still, the Palestinians cling to the hope that the Syrian government will change its position.

The ban appears aimed at discouraging the estimated 34,000 Palestinians who live in Iraq from heading to Syria, already home to about 500,000 Palestinians.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has set up a temporary camp for the Palestinians and is providing them with food, water and medical care, the organization's representative in Syria, Abdel-Hamid El-Ouali, said.

But in spite of Damascus' ban, Palestinians are expected to head to the border in increasing numbers in the coming days when the school year wraps up in Iraq.

Some 25 people, most of them elderly, have left the camp since it was set up because they were unable to bear the scorching heat of the desert. Of those who remain, the majority - 126 - are women and children.

Zaydan Hassan, 28, said five members of his family returned to the capital "because they could not stand the harsh atmosphere here."
But for Hassan and others, the desert is the best of their unenviable options.
"I prefer to live here in the desert over returning to Baghdad because there I would die - although I don't know how. It could be shooting, burning or stabbing," Hassan said as he sat in front of the tent he shares with his family. "There is absolutely no security there."
Another camp resident, Mohammed Hussein Mahmoud, 38, said he was detained by Interior Ministry forces for 42 days on charges of detonating a car. "I was tortured for 16 days around the clock just because I am a Palestinian."
"I prefer to stay here all my life than return to Iraq," he said.

Iraq's ousted leader Saddam Hussein, who liked to be seen as a champion of Arab causes, provided Palestinian refugees in Iraq with privileges like free housing, stipends and government jobs. The largesse he showed them enraged many Iraqis, who coped with the deprivations of nearly 13 years of U.N. sanctions, which ended after Saddam's 2003 overthrow, without such support.

Ahmed Nour al-Deen, 25, said he came here 25 days ago with his wife and daughter, and was seeking asylum anywhere in the world "that could ensure a safe life for my family, far from violence."

Scores of Iraqis attacked Palestinian homes in Baghdad after the regime's fall, seeing them as Saddam supporters. That wave of attacks forced many to flee the country or go into hiding.
"Some Iraqis bombed my house and tried to kill me in the street. I was threatened four times. My friends asked me not to come back because militants were looking for me," Nour al-Deen said. "I will not return to Iraq no matter how much it costs. Returning means death because they have told us that Iraq is for Iraqis alone - not for Palestinians."

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Management from GAPAR, along with representatives from the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) are attending the conference
from 15 to 18 August to review refugee needs and achievements thus
far, and to plan ahead.

According to GAPAR, the agencies will be focusing on the
implementation of better infrastructure in the camps, including
sewage systems, access to drinking water and maintenance of utilities.

GAPAR is the government department responsible for just over 400,000
Palestinian refugees, residing mainly in a total of 12 camps across
the country with the majority in Damascus.

"They are treated on equal-footing basis with Syrian citizens in all
life aspects, even though they retain the Palestinian citizenship,"
noted the Director General of GAPAR, Ali Mustafa.

Patricia McPhillips, Officer-in-Charge of UNRWA affairs for Syria,
commented, "The greatest of these challenges is improving living
conditions for refugees, attaining access to quality free education,
and ensuring healthcare and social services for all."

She said there was a pressing need for additional space in refugee
schools, as classrooms were overcrowded and up to 50 pupils per class
were common.

Since 1950, UNRWA has been the main provider of basic education to
Palestinian refugee children, offering nine years of schooling free
of charge at almost 115 schools throughout Syria.

"UNRWA always suffers from financial constraints; hence, the agency
cannot meet all needs of refugees," McPhillips said.

The agency launched a medium-term plan early this year to enhance the
ability of refugees to support themselves over the next five years.

One of the main projects involves moving some of the 5,000 families
from the barracks at Neirab, in the city of Aleppo, to the nearby
camp of Ein el-Tal.

"About five families live in each barrack under catastrophic
conditions where basic services are not available, such as sewerage,
drinking water and ventilation," Mustafa explained.

Over the years the barracks - where the streets are no wider than the
length of a child's arms - have become more densely crowded and less
hygienic, he said. Provision has been made for 300 families, or
approximately 1,500 people, to be transferred voluntarily by the end
of 2006.

"Last year 28 Palestinian families moved from Neirab to new flats in
Ein el-Tal camp," Mustafa noted.

The barracks area will be rehabilitated for the remaining refugees,
according to UNRWA.

Most of the Palestinian refugees who fled to Syria after the 1948
Arab-Israeli conflict were from Zefat (Safad) in northern Palestine
and the coastal cities of Haifa and Jaffa.