Jordan Times
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Second shipment of urgent relief aid dispatched to Palestinian territories
AMMAN (Petra) — A convoy of 25 trucks laden with
food assistance left for the Palestinian territories on Sunday, upon the
directives of His Majesty King Abdullah.
The trucks, carrying 400 tonnes of lentils, flour, sugar, tea and chickpeas
valued at JD220,000, is the second aid shipment sent to the Palestinian
territories in less than a month, upon the King's directives.
The King met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cape Town on Friday and
discussed ways of securing relief aid for the Palestinian people.
During the meeting, the Monarch told Abbas he had issued directives to the
Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organisation (JHCO) to dispatch a shipment of relief
aid to the Palestinian territories.
Last month, the JHCO dispatched a 27-truck convoy loaded with a similar amount
of essential food supplies to the Palestinians to help them survive a severe
shortage of essential commodities caused by Israel's frequent closures of
crossing points.
JHCO official Rajab Zubeida said yesterday's aid shipment was part of the
Kingdom's continued support for the Palestinians, adding there would be more
assistance in the near future.
Over the past few years, 200 convoys were sent to the Palestinian territories,
consisting of more than 1,100 trucks loaded with some 17,000 tonnes of essential
food supplies, drugs and electric appliances.
In addition, the aid included more than 30 fully-equipped ambulances, according
to the JHCO.
Fathi Alwan from the Palestinian embassy said he highly valued King Abdullah's
efforts and thanked the Kingdom for its continued support.
Also on Monday, a Jordanian Air Force C130 aircraft carrying 8 tonnes of relief
aid left for Pakistan.
The assistance, supervised by the JHCO, is in line with the King's directives to
help survivors of a massive earthquake, which rocked the country last October.
Yesterday's shipment was the eighth plane-load dispatched by the JHCO since the
earthquake.
So far, the Kingdom has sent $2 million worth of assistance to Pakistan.
It also sent a 12-strong search and rescue team and a fully equipped field
hospital, which was set up in Rawalkot northeast of Islamabad.