The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

job creation, food and cash distribution and shelter for refugees with
dam aged or destroyed homes.
Each month, more than 750,000 refugees receive basic food rations and
14,000 people receive short-term employment. Through its job creation
programme, UNRWA provides much needed support to farmers, fish -
ers, the private sector, and new graduates. The socio-economic situation
in Gaza has steadily deteriorated since the onset of the Second
Intifada in September 2000. Tightened restrictions on the movement of
goods and people have led to the collapse of the private sector, eroded
the productive base, and left hundreds of thousands of people unemployed.
The policy of blockade imposed on Gaza since June 2007 has
prompted unprecedented poverty levels. Society is disintegrating, as
every aspect of people’s daily lives is affected. About three-quarters of
the population are now aid dependent, and receive food assistance to
ensure their mere survival. Young, creative and skilled people have no
jobs and no prospects for a job. Parents are no longer able to provide
for their families after years of unemployment and steady depletion of
saving and other resources. Children have rotating classes and spend
hours in the yard as no one is able to build new classrooms to accommodate
them. At the same time, industrial estates stand idle as if in a
ghost town. This loss of dignity threatens the fabric of civilized society,
with children worst affected by the crisis. During and after the recent
conflict in Gaza, UNRWA staff provided essential services and in-kind
assistance to a population under severe stress. More than 50,000 Gazans
took shelter in UNRWA schools in the midst of the conflict. The
Agency offered basic food, water, blankets and mattresses to tens of
thousands of displaced families and individuals. Since late 2000, we
have operated our emergency programme to protect and safeguard the
rights of Palestinian refugees in difficult circumstances. Our activities
address the immediate and longer-term consequences of protracted
conflict in support of individual and community coping strategies. Our
humanitarian assistance mitigates the negative effects of the violent environment,
giving special attention to those most affected and vulnerable,
especially children and the poorest of the poor.
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