BEIRUT: The reconstruction of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp is threatened by the lack of funding, UNRWA’s Director in Lebanon Ann Dismorr said Thursday.
Dismorr said that Saudi Arabia, the U.S and the European Union were leading among the donations received to reconstruct the Palestinian refugee camp, stressing that ongoing projects require more aid.
In 2007, much of Nahr al-Bared and the surrounding area was flattened and pitted with mines during hostilities between the Lebanese Army and local hard-line Sunni group Fatah al-Islam. More than 35,000 people were displaced.
“With regards to funding, we have launched contacts with many Arab states,” the head of Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee Hasan Mneimneh said during a meeting in the Grand Serail.
The LPDC head said he hoped the initial positive response of Arab states would soon be translated into workable contributions to reconstruction.
Mneimneh also said that the Lebanese government was continuing its effort to provide the necessary funding for the reconstruction of the Nahr al-Bared camp.
The LPDC has recently launched an administrative mechanism that provides basic services to the camps such as electricity, water, waste treatment and sanitation.
Mneimneh expressed hope that all concerned parties would cooperate to ensure the continuity of basic service provisions.
“The world is starting to realize today, the importance of development and construction in countering terrorism,” Mneimneh said during an UNRWA-organized tour of the settlement that took place after the meeting in the Grand Serail.
“Uprooting [terrorism] is not done through military force alone, but also through ceasing to offer a hospitable environment that provide suitable conditions for it to spread."
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