Ophria Navon, the wife of President Navon, urged today cooperation between Israeli and overseas welfare agencies to rehabilitate the children of Lebanese refugees. A survey team she sponsored found recently that orphanages operated by the Lebanese government did not accept children of the thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Mrs. Navon spoke at a press conference here.
The survey team found that one Christian welfare agency had taken in 30 orphans in recent weeks, she reported. A central orphanage in Sidon, sheltering 600 children, accepted only 14 new orphans during the current fighting. A children’s village with 24 residents and a capacity of 100, took only one homeless child, the team reported.
Mrs. Navon proposed that Israel approach the international agencies to organize assistance for the badly-housed refugee children. She also proposed that Israel, working through the international agencies, bring pregnant women and mothers with young children away from such embattled areas as west Beirut to more secure section of Lebanon.
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