By IANS,
Abu Dhabi : The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Charity Foundation will intensify its charity programmes in Iraq and Palestine during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Foundation chairman and UAE Minister for Presidential Affairs Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered that the best services be provided to Muslims in those countries through the ‘Iftar meal’ programme, which the foundation organises in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the state-run Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
The order is already being implemented in the Palestinian territories and Iraq, as well as in Jordan, Syria and Egypt where the programme is being implemented in collaboration with UAE embassies in those countries.
According to the foundation’s executive director, Mohammed Haji Al-Khoory, the programme is organised every year during Ramadan.
Founded in 1992 and named after the UAE’s founding father, the Zayed Foundation has a diversified operational field and contributes to all types of charity in coordination with national and international organisations, in order to promote the presence of the UAE on all international charitable and humanitarian boards.
Al-Khoory said the foundation is committed to alleviating the sufferings of the Palestinian people in view of the very difficult economic situation they were facing.
He said the ‘Iftar meal’ scheme would be implemented in three phases in Palestine.
“About 14,000 Muslims in Old Jerusalem, Old Jericho and three other areas in Gaza will be served the ‘Iftar meal’ in phase one; in phase two 4,200 food parcels, comprising a full month supply of basic food items, will be distributed in East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza, while in phase three food supplies will be distributed to 3,000 families in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan,” he explained.