Date:3/2/2021
During a meeting of representatives of host countries with the Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA
Dr. Abu Houli calls on UNRWA to move towards urging donors to provide additional funding and expand the donor base 
- Called on the UN to assume its responsibilities towards UNRWA"
=============================================
The PLO Executive Committee member and the head of the Refugee Affairs Department, Dr. Ahmed Abu Houli praised the United Nations to assume its responsibilities towards the international relief agency (UNRWA) to resolve its financial crisis and move towards a stable and predictable budget .
During a meeting with representatives of the host countries ( Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon) as well as Egypt on Wednesday evening, Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA Lenny steneth ,Dr. Abu Houli said that the instability of the UNRWA budget and the continuation of its fiscal deficit has become a cause for concern among the refugee community, and the staff working in UNRWA, which number more than 28 thousand employees, pointing out that the financial situation according to UNRWA data is not good in light of the talk about the financial deficit in its budget for the year 2021 at a value of 241 million dollars, and that the funds available to it will cover only the salaries of February. This indicates the lack of money for UNRWA to cover the salaries of March, which this poses a risk to UNRWA services and to the refugee community.
The meeting was discussed according to Dr. Abu Houli UNRWA budget for 2021 estimated at 1.3 billion dollars and the critical financial situation of UNRWA in light of the projected fiscal deficit of 241 million dollars.
He continued Dr.Abu Houli that temporary solutions are not a remedy to solve UNRWA's recurring crises, which necessitates a clear strategy to ensure stable and predictable funding for UNRWA.
Dr. Abu Houli freeze UNRWA to fill 500 job vacancies serving education and health programs and reduce 10% of its budget for 2021, stressing the need to move towards urging donors to provide additional funding and expand the donor base through the search for new partners and funders .
He called on UNRWA to clarify precise details on emergency budgets for Palestine refugees in Syria and Palestine and budget projects in addition to the emergency budget to counter the corona pandemic, pointing out that what was presented in the financial briefing is surrounded by uncertainty about the expectations of the donor response to these emergency budgets that refugees in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine depend on . 
Called Dr. Abu Houli UN member states that voted overwhelmingly large to renew the mandate of the UNRWA in accordance with the interpretation given by the 302 which is the political support of the international community to UNRWA, it holds connotations of political support on the issue of Palestinian refugees and their right to fair and legitimate return to their homes, which displaced in 1948 in accordance with Resolution 194 to complete his financial support will be maintained on the agency's global UNRWA and the continuity of its services to more than Uncle 5.6 million Palestinian refugees .
He stressed the need to move quickly to urge donors to raise the ceiling of their pledges and financial commitments to close the fiscal deficit gap expected in the next three months (March – June), and not to wait until the international donor conference to be held next June to mobilize UNRWA's financial resources .
He stressed that the international donor conference is important and we rely on it very much to enable UNRWA to get out of the recurrent cycle of financial deficit and achieve permanent and sustainable funding for UNRWA, noting at the same time that there is a state of concern in the refugee community about the consequences of the repeated postponement of the conference to raise questions
UNRWA deputy commissioner-general Lenny steneth briefed on UNRWA's 2021 budget, challenges to its work in weak donor flow, forecasts of financial 241 million dollars deficit and UNRWA's use of a 10% budget cut as a temporary measure pending a broader reading of donor financial commitments .
For their part, the representatives of the host countries rejected the decision to reduce the budget by 10% and that UNRWA was required to move towards mobilizing financial resources to balance it, not reducing its budget .
The meeting was attended beside Dr. Abu Houli, the Director General of the Department of Refugee Affairs Ahmed Hanoun and Director General of media and public relations of the Department of Refugee Affairs of the organization Rami Al – Madhoun and the Director of the Department of Refugee Affairs in Jordan Ahmed Ismail, of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Director general of the Department of Palestinian affairs of the Ministry of foreign affairs of Jordan, Rafik Kharfan, of the Syrian Republic, director general of the General Authority for Palestinian Arab refugees Ali Mustafa, of the Lebanese Republic, chairman of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, Minister Hassan Mneimnah, and for the Arab Republic of Egypt, its Ambassador to Jordan, Sherif Kamel.