NEW YORK -- Although several governments have recently pledged $500 million to help the Palestinian people, the response is late, incomplete and likely to be ineffective unless the aid is accompanied by political measures to alleviate a situation in which Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, have become prisoners in their own land. Several United Nations humanitarian agencies working in the occupied Palestinian territories have expressed concern over the continuing toll that violence and health problems have taken on civilians, more than half of them children.
Jan Egeland, U.N. relief coordinator, has said that driving Gaza's population into despair is a recipe for generating more hatred and militancy. What is needed to improve their plight?
The World Food Program (WFP) states that "In contrast to Lebanon, where humanitarian food aid needs have been essentially met, the growing number of poor in Gaza are living on the bare minimum and face a daily struggle to cover their daily food needs."