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Americans for Peace Now, Middle East Institute to Host Capitol Hill Briefing with UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen Koning AbuZayd

Monday, September 12, 2005, 2:15-3:15 p.m. in Room HC-7 of the U.S. Capitol Building (Independence Street Entrance). Journalists are invited to attend this briefing.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 6, 2005

CONTACT: Lewis Roth/APN - (202) 728-1893; Laurie Kassman/MEI - (202) 785-1141 x201

Washington, D.C.-Americans for Peace Now (APN) and the Middle East Institute (MEI) will host a Capitol Hill briefing featuring Karen Koning AbuZayd, an American national who serves as the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Ms. AbuZayd will be in Washington to consult with U.S. officials about refugee issues in the context of Israel's evacuation of settlements from Gaza and the West Bank.

The event will be held from 2:15 p.m.-3:15 p.m. on Monday, September 12, 2005, in Room HC-7 of the U.S. Capitol Building (Independence Street Entrance).

Journalists are invited to attend this briefing. Reporters covering this event should allow sufficient time for extra security procedures involved with entering the Capitol building. RSVPs are required due to space and security considerations. For more information, please contact Lewis Roth/APN at (202) 728-1893 or Laurie Kassman/MEI at (202) 785-1141 x201.

In August 2000, Karen AbuZayd became an Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, appointed to the post of Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA. On April 1, 2005, she became the Acting Commissioner-General, and the UN Secretary General appointed her to the post of Commissioner-General on June 28, 2005. Before joining UNRWA, Ms. AbuZayd worked for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for 19 years, focusing her efforts in Sudan, Namiba, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. In the early 1990s, she directed the South African repatriation operation and the Kenya-Somali cross-border operation. She also worked in Sarajevo as Chief of Mission for two years during the Bosnian war.

UNRWA is a relief and human development agency, providing education, health care, social services and emergency aid to over four million refugees living in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. UNRWA is by far the largest UN operation in the Middle East, with over 25,000 staff, almost all of them refugees themselves, working directly to benefit their communities, as teachers, doctors, nurses, or social workers.