DUBAI, 24 June 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

EGYPT: EU grant to tackle rural poverty in South Sinai MIDDLE EAST: Plight of Palestinian refugees worsening in most parts of Middle East IRAQ: Threats, violence in Baghdad threaten new wave of displaced IRAQ: Fallujah security crackdown preventing access for aid workers IRAQ: Parliament considers using oil revenue to help refugees IRAQ: Hundreds flee homes as Turkish forces battle Kurdish fighters IRAQ: Plight of refugees worsens as Syria, Jordan impose restrictions IRAQ: Noor Muhammad, Iraq, "I was cooking for him but he was already dead ISRAEL-SUDAN: New wave of Sudanese refugees faces uncertain future LEBANON: Challenges of returning refugees to destroyed camp LEBANON: Rights group calls for probe into Palestinian abuse claims OPT: Aid agencies back to work in the Gaza Strip OPT: Formation of new government opens way for more international aid OPT: UN warns of food shortages unless key crossing point reopened

EGYPT: EU grant to tackle rural poverty in South Sinai

The European Commission (EC) has awarded 55.5 million euros (about US$74.2 million) for a landmark development project in Egypt's South Sinai Governorate. The aid will target some of Egypt's poorest rural populations, including Sinai's 22,000 Bedouin population, many of whom are failing to benefit from Sinai's booming tourist economy.

The Sinai peninsula, which returned to Egypt from Israel after the 1979 Camp David Accord, has witnessed rapid development since then in the tourism sector, which dominates the region's economy. Around 110,000 people now live in the governorate.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72791

MIDDLE EAST: Plight of Palestinian refugees worsening in most parts of Middle East

Some 4.4 million Palestinians remain refugees nearly 60 years after the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. As the world marks World Refugee Day on 20 June, about one third of these refugees still live inside camps, while an even larger proportion continue to receive aid and relief services, primarily from UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees.

Observers say the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories has worsened over the past year due to the violence, intense infighting in the Gaza Strip and the international economic boycott on the Palestinian Authority, which lasted over one year and was only lifted earlier this week.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72841

IRAQ: Threats, violence in Baghdad threaten new wave of displaced

Sunni families remaining in Shia neighbourhoods of Baghdad are being forced to flee their homes: A 72-hour deadline announced by militants for them to leave these areas or face death expires on 18 June. The ultimatum has put many Iraqi families in a desperate situation and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are worried as displacement camps could not cope with all the internally displaced people (IDPs) that this ultimatum might trigger.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72793

IRAQ: Fallujah security crackdown preventing access for aid workers

A month-long security crackdown is preventing aid workers from getting to displaced families in the central Iraqi city of Fallujah and its outskirts, while a curfew imposed by US forces is restricting residents' ability to go out and buy much-needed supplies.

"We are living like prisoners, lacking assistance at all levels. Aid support, which last year was always here, can't be seen any more. We depend solely on ourselves, drinking dirty water to survive, even knowing that our children are getting sick from it," said Muhammad Aydan, 42, a resident of Fallujah, some 70km west of the capital, Baghdad.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72810

IRAQ: Parliament considers using oil revenue to help refugees

The Iraqi parliament is considering a package of measures to meet the needs of the growing number of Iraqis who have fled to neighbouring countries, a lawmaker said on 19 June.

"Our proposals include allocating three percent of Iraq's oil export revenues to help them meet their needs," Abdul-Khaliq Zankana, a Kurdish lawmaker and head of the parliamentary committee for displacement and immigrants, told IRIN in Baghdad.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72840

IRAQ: Hundreds flee homes as Turkish forces battle Kurdish fighters

Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds have been forced to flee their homes after up to 30,000 Turkish soldiers massed on the Iraqi-Turkish border and launched attacks against Kurdish fighters, Iraqi border police say. Local aid agencies said Kurdish fighters had prevented them from entering the villages, which were being targeted.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72854

IRAQ: Plight of refugees worsens as Syria, Jordan impose restrictions

Scores of Iraqi men, women and children gathered on the pavement of Baghdad's central Salihiyah area waiting for the big grey bus to take them to neighbouring Syria and help them flee their country's violence.

"Staying in Iraq is like committing suicide," said Hala Numan Jabre, a 41-year-old mother of three girls as she threw her six coloured bags onto the bus.

"There is no safe life in Iraq, it's like a jungle. There are no public services, there is no rule of law, and everywhere there is killing and kidnapping. That is why we've decided to take our daughters away until things get better, God willing," Hala, a teacher of English, said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72768

IRAQ: Noor Muhammad, Iraq, "I was cooking for him but he was already dead"

As Noor Muhammad, 36, was cooking dinner for her family in their Baghdad home two months ago, she heard her son scream from the living room. He had just seen his father dead on TV. Marwan Muhammad was shot dead as he was leaving his shop in the Alawi District of the capital.

Noor, a mother of three, never imagined her husband would die like that, and never thought she would learn of his death in that manner. Now she struggles to find ways to raise her children without her husband's income.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72781

ISRAEL-SUDAN: New wave of Sudanese refugees faces uncertain future

Sudanese refugees seeking asylum in Israel undergo tremendous hardships, including arrests, while some end up living on the streets of the southern cities. Around 80 remain incarcerated in Israeli prisons, about half of whom are from the troubled region of Darfur.

In recent weeks, a relatively large influx of refugees, estimated at some 900 people, have entered Israel illegally through the porous border with Egypt. As Sudan is considered by Israel an "enemy state", refugees from places like Darfur are seen as a security risk.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72845

LEBANON: Challenges of returning refugees to destroyed camp

Aid groups are preparing to return Palestinians to the ravaged Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, though it remains unclear whether a breakthrough in talks between the army and Fatah aI-Islam is imminent.

Even if fighting between the army and Sunni militant group Fatah al-Islam does end soon, tough challenges remain, aid agencies warn. Unexploded ordnance and rubble imperil the refugees' way home. Many houses are ruined and further dangers and diseases lurk in the damaged water and sewage networks, they said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72875

LEBANON: Rights group calls for probe into Palestinian abuse claims

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled the Lebanese army's month-long siege and shelling of the north Lebanon Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, as its battle against Islamist militants continues. But one 16 year-old Palestinian student told IRIN his worst ordeal began after he escaped the camp.

About 10 men he identified as soldiers and police were standing at a junction leading to the village of Muhammara, above Nahr El-Bared. "They asked to see my identity card," said the boy, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. "As soon as they saw it was blue (for Palestinian), they said 'Take him'."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72836

OPT: Aid agencies back to work in the Gaza Strip

UN agencies and many humanitarian organisations resumed full operations in the Gaza Strip on 17 June after internecine violence last week brought their activities to a standstill. Food is available but, with border crossings closed, is running low, power is limited and hospitals remain overcrowded with supplies low.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72773

OPT: Formation of new government opens way for more international aid

The USA, the European Union and Israel have announced plans to end the economic restrictions on the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the past year. This, say aid workers, will allow the resumption of long-term development programmes in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The step comes as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, from the Fatah movement, formed a new technocrat government that excludes any Hamas members, with Salam Fayed, a former finance minister, as prime minister.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72817

OPT: UN warns of food shortages unless key crossing point reopened

The Gaza Strip will face a general food shortage within two-four weeks if the main commercial Karni Crossing is not reopened, the UN has warned.

"For a crisis to be avoided, commercial and humanitarian food stocks must be replenished regularly and reliably," a report on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 20 June said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72863

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