Palestine: Palestinians get EC aid, but water and sanitation underfunded

The European Commission (EC) on 16 June announced a 24 million euro donation to humanitarian programmes in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

About half of the money would go to the West Bank and half to the Gaza Strip, a senior EC official said, noting that even though only about a third of the population lives in the coastal enclave, the humanitarian situation there was more severe.

This was the second half of the EC's humanitarian contribution to the oPt for 2008: in January 29 million euros were allocated for food aid and food security projects. Of the 53 million euro total, 54 percent went directly to meet the funding needs outlined in the multi-agency Consolidated Appeal for 2008.

Of the US$461.9 million asked for in the CAP, $42.9 million was for water and sanitation. Experts said CAP funding this year was good - with some 45 percent funded as of this month, compared to just 29 percent this time last year - but water and sanitation had only received 4 percent of the requested amount.