The National Beverage Company Coca-Cola/Cappy (NBC) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) signed today, Monday, a Memorandum of Understanding to donate 350 thousand NIS to finance food parcels in support to our people in besieged Yarmouk Camp since more than 7 months. Ms. Dina al Masri, the vice-president of the board of directors of the NBC, and Mr. Lionello Boscardi, the head of Arab Partners Unit in UNRWA, signed the MoU in the NBC’s headquarters in Betunya. Present were Mr. Imad al Hindi, the General Manager of NBC, and Mr. Felipe Sanchez, the Director of UNRWA Operations in the West Bank.
Ms. Dina al Masri affirmed that this support comes as part of the company’s responsibility towards the Palestinian people wherever it was, especially in regards to what our people are facing in besieged Yarmouk camp, she added: “We receive with great pain and sorrow the news of our people in Yarmouk Camp. We realise that this great sufferance calls for immediate mobilisation to help our people there, especially trying to face the big deficit of nutrition which led to tens of cases of death as a result of hunger. We at the NBC contributed in offering this donation to provide the necessary food supply for our besieged people because we are part of the Palestinian society and we must all act quick to help our people”.
Al Masri stressed on the necessity of continuing the act by cooperating between individuals and associations in order to help our people in Yarmouk Camp. She called for intensifying efforts in order to end the siege, support and help our people in Yarmouk camp while praising the role of UNRWA in delivering aid to the camp under siege and continuing fighting.
As to Al Hindi, he explained that the National Beverages Company launched a campaign to support our people in Yarmouk Camp through donating from the company’s sales’ value in Palestine, adding: “What is happening to our people in Yarmouk Camp, especially children, women and the elderly, requires our immediate mobilisation to help and support our besieged people in the camp. We, at the National Beverages Company, are utterly saddened by the tragic situation facing our people in the camp and we pray that God would save our people, who suffered from Nakbah many times, from this crisis.”
Al Hindi stressed the importance of delivering all kinds of humanitarian assistance, such as food and medicine, to our besieged people in the camp. He also complimented the role of UNRWA staff and their efforts to deliver aid despite the difficult conditions surrounding the camp. He called all associations, in specific the private sector, to take the initiative of offering the necessary aid to our people in the camp.
Felipe Sanchez, the Director of UNRWA Operations in the West Bank, expressed his gratitude and thanks to the NBC for its generous donation, and said: “Such donations contribute in empowering UNRWA’s capacities to deliver aid to the refugees in Yarmouk Camp for which they are impatiently waiting.” He added that this is a pioneering step from the company and he hopes it will be an example to follow in solidarity and cooperation in saving the lives of refugees in Yarmouk Camp from starving.
Boscardi welcomed the company’s donation and said: “The private sector in Palestine contributed until now with an amount of 1.2 million dollars for Palestinian refugees in Syria since the beginning of this year to support UNRWA humanitarian mission in an area where Palestinian refugees suffer deeply.”
