GAZA CITY — "Please note that starting in April 2014, your status will change from 'absolute poverty' to 'not poor.'" If you received this message, you might think that you had struck it rich and won the lottery. After, however, identifying the sender — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) — and then heading to the nearest UNRWA office, you would find that it really means that the food aid UNWRA had been providing you is about to stop, because in its eyes, you are now "not poor."
This is what happened to Mohammed Jaber, 44, a resident of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza who must support six children in addition to his wife. His salary from the Palestinian Authority (PA) was cut off in 2007.