Relief for Palestinian refugees Damascus to resume soon

Director of the General Administration for Palestine Arab Refugees (GAPAR) Ali Mustafa said Monday the lifeline for Al-Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp to the south of Damascus will resume soon after finalizing "some field procedures." The suspension of the food relief for residents in the camp stems from problems relating to the implementation of the Palestinian popular initiative for solving the crisis of the refugees and normalizing their situation once and for all, he said. Mustafa's remarks came in a message addressed to Filippo Grandi, the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). During the humanitarian operation a total of 6,500 food parcels have been delivered to the refugees and 2,874 sick people and their companions were enabled to leave the camp over the last few days. Representatives of 14 Palestinian factions are working closely with the Syrian government to address the blight of the refugees stuck in the camp, he pointed out. Mustafa downplayed the warnings, made recently by UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness, that the suspension of the lifeline risk causing a humanitarian disaster, saying that Gunness triggered panic among the refugees. Gunness needn't to reiterate the calls for the Syrian government to allow the distribution of food relief unhindered; he should rather contact the UNRWA office in Syria first, Mustafa added in his message to Grandi. A Palestinian delegation managed yesterday to enter Al-Yamrouk camp to verify the implementation of the popular initiative.