“Oh, UNRWA, the interest of students and patients is above any consideration.” With these words, a large number of residents of Askar camp in Nablus, during a protest they organized today, Monday, in front of the office of the UNRWA director in the camp, expressed their dissatisfaction with the continuation of the strike by the UNRWA workers union. , which doubled the size of the suffering experienced by the people of the Palestinian camps.

It is noteworthy that all health and educational facilities and UNRWA relief aid distribution centers in the refugee camps in the West Bank are still out of order for the third month in a row, which prompted the popular committees, institutions and activities of the old and new Askar camps to invite the people to this vigil.

The families and their children participating in the vigil raised banners denouncing the agency's reductions, and calling for stopping this strike in order to obtain their minimum rights to education, treatment, and live in dignity, especially in light of the difficult conditions that all our people suffer from.

The head of the People's Committee for Services in the old Askar camp, Majid Abu Kishk, told Al-Quds.com: "We reject the agency's policy of cuts against the Palestinian camps and their workers. The strike is in the most difficult times and the darkest conditions we are going through in the West Bank, leaving our children in the streets without schools, as well as the Palestinian Authority, which has not moved a finger since the start of the strike.

Abu Kishk added that the protest came late because the steps of the strike were not clear, stressing that they are with the union's demands, but they are against the timing of the strike, and they do not want to take any step against the union.

He expressed his concern as a result of the decline in the role of UNRWA, which is considered the only witness to the Palestinian Nakba since its establishment in 1949, saying: "We are living one Nakba after another, and this strike is a big problem that has befallen us, as the school year is almost over and we have a large educational loss." Not to mention the general health and environmental problems in the camp.

He stressed the need for the agency to provide educational compensation for about (2,500) male and female students in the basic stages in its schools in the event that the strike is lifted in the coming period, in addition to providing treatment to one thousand nine hundred cases suffering from chronic diseases in the camp.

The citizen, Rawand Salehi, expressed her dissatisfaction with this situation in which the people live in the Askar camp in particular and the Palestinian camps in general, indicating that she registered her daughter in a private school to complete the first grade and avoid her absence from the education system at that important stage.

Salehi said, "I had to enroll my daughter, knowing that many parents will not be able to transfer their children to other schools, due to the deterioration of their living conditions. I confirm that we are all with the agency's employees, but the strike affected us in the camps, so we hope that it will stop because we are the victims." .

The deputy secretary of the Fatah movement in the camp, Ahmed Abu Saada, explained, "We in the refugee camps remain under the framework of the agency until our return, and we do not want to strip it of its responsibilities because it is the only witness to the tragedy of our people in the Palestinian camps."

About seventeen thousand people live in the old Askar camp, over one square kilometer, where there is overcrowding, deteriorating living conditions, not to mention unemployment - according to Abu Saada - and it was the duty of "UNRWA" to meet all their needs, while it is working to reduce them little by little.

Abu Saada added, "The agency worked to reduce the number of teachers in schools, which led to overcrowding in classrooms with students. It also stopped providing the families with food supplies, as well as material assistance. We do not want to relieve them of their duties towards us until we return to our cities and villages from which we were expelled."

For his part, Jamal Shatara, the head of the Lod Charity Association, who is among the families participating in the protest, said: "We want to deliver messages to all the conflicting parties that shutting down schools and all facilities in the camp is not in the interest of our children or our camps, and we are the only concern for the students to return to their schools, And stay away from this ignorance policy.

Shatara continued: "We are not against the Union, but we are against the ignorance of our children and we refuse to let them remain in the streets because the best place for them is in schools, and this is a year of their lives without education, and the only losers are the people of the camps, and the interest of our students is above all considerations, so we call on all camps others to claim their rights.

It is worth mentioning that the Union of Arab Workers of the Agency has been trying for years to obtain a number of demands, during which it took several protest steps, but UNRWA is procrastinating in achieving their demands, as the latter claims that it is suffering from a financial crisis resulting from the failure of the funding countries to fulfill their commitments. Which led to its inability to provide its services to the Palestinian refugees as required.