Refugee protest against UNRWA budget cuts has not ceased since summer 1997, when refugees in Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria launched simultaneous strikes and marches demanding the cancellation of UNRWA's 1997 austerity program. At that time, a US $20 million emergency grant approved by the donor countries enabled UNRWA to avoid implementation of the most heavily criticized austerity measures in 1997. [see ARTICLE 74/22] 

In 1998, however, UNRWA is again short of funding. By September 1998, UNRWA faces a US $62 million deficit in its US $314 million budget, and relations with the refugee community remain  explosive. Outraged by 30-40% salary increases granted by UNRWA to senior managers in all areas of operation, the Union of UNRWA staff announced its protest program in Amman on 23 August 1998. Since then, refugees have rallied for higher salaries and better services in Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and especially in Lebanon. There, refugees stormed UNRWA offices in the camps of Ain al-Hilou and Miye Miye, kicking out staff and blocking the streets in front of the building. Based on rumors that UNRWA had abstained from renewing the contract of the agency's former director in Lebanon, Wolfgang Plasa, for reasons related to his investigation of UNRWA's financial management, protesters also accused UNRWA officials in Lebanon of theft and corruption. 

On 15 September 1998, some 20,000 UNRWA employees, most of them refugees, held a one-day warning strike to underline their demands. An open strike of all UNRWA staff in the region was announced to follow on September 28, unless the most urgent issues can be resolved. Only a few days before the set strike date, UNRWA chief Peter  Hansen and Union of UNRWA Local Staff reached a temporary agreement and the strike was called off, UNRWA’s financial  crisis, however, continues.  

[Source: Executive Committee of the Union of Local Staff/UNRWA, Union of Youth Activities Centres-Palestine; Fofognet/McGill University quoting AFP, AP, Beirut Daily Star, Jordan Times, 7-16/98]