Ramallah - PNN - UN agency brings back ‘Reliefs’ and ‘Works’ to its full name on its website after Palestinian protests at name change. Palestinian protests had sprung up previously as the United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency dropped the two words leaving the agency named only as the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees.
Last week a protest was held outside the UNRWA office in Gaza in opposition to the name change.
The name change led many Palestinians to believe that services to Palestinian Refugees were being cut by the UN.
Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post reports that this led Palestinian Refugee representatives and Hamas leaders to claim that the UNRWA was part of a conspiracy to downplay the problems faced by Palestinian refugees and their Right of Return as enshrined in International law.
The UN Agency over the past week has been trying in vain to explain the name change claiming it as a reshaping of the organisation in the wake of its 60th anniversary.
However after continued protests the full name was reinstated on the UN Agency’s website.
