Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday told reporters on the sidelines of an UNRWA donors' conference in Rome that ''the problems we are dealing with are serious and real and the implications huge - they involve five million Palestinian refugees, including 500,000 students''.

''The challenge for us is to take a step forward on our responsibilities and ensure that Palestinian children can continue to have classrooms where they can go, hospitals where they can be treated and food on their table''.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency, said Safadi, is a ''political'' entity that should convey the message that ''the world has not abandoned Palestinian refugees that have lived for 70 years in this situation and endure injustices''.

Together with the ministers of Sweden and Egypt, Jordan co-chairs the ministerial-level summit of UNRWA attended by over 70 delegations.

Supporting UNWRA, said Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, is ''necessary to preserve the dignity of Palestinian refugees, avoid radicalism and therefore counter terrorism.

Shoukry continued saying that it is necessary for UNRWA's mandate to have a fundamental role in ''maintaining vital services it offers to refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank''. It is important, he concluded, that the conference on Thursday can ''strengthen UNRWA's role, offering the necessary support to the organization''. The UN agency's deficit is worth 446 million dollars. Without new funding, UNRWA diplomatic sources warned, ''by next June we will be forced to close 700 schools and 140 clinics operating in very difficult conditions''.