ANERA, the Washington-based American Near East Refugee Aid organization, held its annual banquet here over the weekend, pledging to raise more money than ever to bankroll its projects that help Palestinians. The group has been helping Palestinian children dream for a better life since it was founded in 1967. Anera (www.anera.org) has worked with 3.2 million Palestinians under occupation, 60 percent of whom live below the poverty line on less than $2 dollars a day. Last year alone, Anera distributed over $13 million in medical and relief supplies, including daily nutritional snacks to preschoolers. âAnera is one of the few organizations consistently trying to do positive things on the ground in the Palestinian areas. Other organizations come and go, but theyâve been at this since the â60s, as a force for positive stability,â said a former World Bank official at Aneraâs annual banquet on Friday.âAnera works to create stability and jobs,â said Aneraâs president, Peter Gubser. âWe believe Palestinians deserve a good life just like any other human being on the face of the earth, and Anera funds projects in Gaza and elsewhere to make it happen,â said Gubser. One of Aneraâs many successful projects is the distribution of fortified milk and biscuits to malnourished children in the occupied territories. âSeveral years ago, we noticed malnutrition and a lack of essential nutrients among Palestinian youth was a real problem. Anera designed a program two years ago to give fortified milk and fortified biscuits to 15,000 preschool children throughout Gaza â from Rafaa in the south to Bait Lahia in the north.â Gubser said the reason for the malnutrition is due to the lack of employment by income earners in Palestinian families due to the âIsraeli response to the intifada, which caused tremendously high unemployment during the last three years.â