A TIME TO SPEAK
Vol. III:7 (No. 31)
July 2003 -- Tammuz-Av 5763

NO RELIEF IN THE WORKS

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was founded in 1950 for one exclusive purpose: To provide for Arabs who left Israel in the course of the 1948-49 War of Independence that was caused by the Arab governments attempt to destroy Israel by military force. After its establishment in 1950, UNRWA set up 59 camps in Judea-Samaria (then occupied by Jordan), in Gaza (then occupied by Egypt), in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Some of these camps have in the course of the years developed into towns, where the UN host still supplies free housing, food, medical care and education.

The residents are defined by the United Nations as "refugees", a status allotted to any Arab who had resided in Israel for two years before 1948. Their original numbers are estimated at 500,000-600,000, many of them derived from a massive Arab immigration into the Land of Israel during the 20th century. Now, fifty-three years later, and with descendants inheriting refugee status, the numbers are given as three-and-a-half million -- an improbable figure despite a high rate of natural increase.

The clients of UNRWA are the only people in the world who have an international agency all their own. Other refugees and displaced persons are together under the single aegis of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, or else are denied any UN help at all. Some 750,000 Jews from communities in the Middle East and North Africa that were already ancient before the Arabs invaded and conquered them, were resettled in Israel without help from the UN -- and all their property was confiscated by the Arab governments. Jewish survivors of the hellfires of Europe were resettled in Israel without help from the UN.

Unlike other eleemosynary or humanitarian enterprises, the chief principle of UNRWA is not to relieve suffering and improve conditions for its charges, much less help them to resettle and begin new lives. On the contrary, it is resolute in preventing and alleviation, improvement, or resettlement -- determined to keep its clients in their current state for generations if need be, in order to advance a political goal of "return," that can be achieved only with the destruction of Israel.

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The Director and a Commissioner-General of UNRWA is Peter Hansen of Denmark, who works against any escape for the residents of his camps without a "political settlement" on terms fatal for Israel. He was a chief instigator of the worldwide campaign of slander and libel against Israel when it took action against the PLO terrorists holed up in a corner of the UNRWA camp at Jenin. Hansen then averred that he himself had seen "bodies piling up in mass graves" and "a human catastrophe that has few parallels in recent history". These statements have been proven to be out-and-out lies, but that malicious mendacity has not damaged his good standing with the United Nations that employs him.

Of some 23,000 employees of UNRWA, the bulk by far are themselves "refugees" and residents of the camps. Some openly admit that they use camp facilities to make and store weapons and explosives and train terrorists. They also admit that they use official UN vehicles -- which have diplomatic immunity from inspection -- to transport terrorists, weapons and explosives. These activities have no drawn any disapproval from Mr. Hansen or his boss Kofi Annan.

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Financial support for UNRWA comes from UN member states, with theUnited States the largest contributor by far. (Oil-rich princes and sheiks tend to be among the smallest contributors.) The taxpayers of the United States are thus unwittingly subsidizing the terrorism bred in these camps.

Congressman Eric Cantor, Virginia, Chairman of the U.S. House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, reports on UNRWA and U.S. financing, 22 May 2002:

The United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) was founded in 1950 after the first Arab-Israeli War to assist and coordinate the actions of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) with the actions of Palestinian refugees. The establishment of UNRWA was the result of the Arab world's botched attempt to destroy the newborn state of Israel and was intended to be a temporary solution to deal with displaced Palestinians in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, over the last 50 years, UNRWA's assistance has not improved the quality of life of the Palestinian people. In fact, under UNRWA's control and supervision, the Palestinians have created an active and deadly terrorist regime.

[. . . . ] Currently, 50 years after the temporary organization was created, UNRWA is still involved in the Middle East by wholly funding and largely administrating the West Bank refugee camps that are under Yasser Arafat's control. At the center of controversy today is the UNRWA-run camp of Jenin. This camp was the focal point of the latest Israeli attempt to destroy the terrorism infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli military has provided ample evidence that the Jenin camp is the central command for suicide bombers. The Palestinians seem to agree, as they refer to the Jenin camp as the "suicide capital" and continue to launch many attacks against Israeli civilians from the location.

This continued assault from the Jenin camp against the only democracy in the Middle East forces us to question the manner in which UNRWA is running its refugee camps. Many allegations of abuse by UNRWA staff and of UNRWA resources have surfaced around the Jenin refugee camp. In UNRWA-funded and staffed schools, Palestinian children are taught that "Palestine's" borders run from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. By failing to acknowledge the existence of Israel, UNWRA fosters hatred in children toward the people of Israel and the belief that Israel has no right to exist. Furthermore, UNRWA hosts summer school training camps where young students are taught tactics that further the cause of the Intifada and the supposed honor of Martyrdom. Buildings and warehouses under UNRWA's supervision are allegedly being used as storage areas for Palestinian ammunition and counterfeit currency factories. It is even alleged that the extreme terrorist organization, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, openly controls the UNRWA workers' union. UNRWA denies that this occurs, but has not provided satisfactory evidence to the contrary.

In Jenin, and especially inside the refugee camp, an extensive infrastructure of terrorist organizations exists. All of these terrorist organizations are allegedly under the supervision of UNRWA. These terrorist organizations include Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah and are responsible for launching homicide attacks into Israel. Internal Fatah documents are available which demonstrate that even among the Palestinians, Jenin is considered the suicide capital. [. . . .]

Furthermore, while UNWRA claims to be a humanitarian organization, it allows terrorist organizations in Jenin to use local civilians as human shields. While terrorists launch attacks against the Israeli army out of occupied houses and apartment buildings, UNWRA turns its head. When innocent civilians are caught in the crossfire, UNRWA allows the terrorists to create sympathy for the Palestinian cause, thus swaying the Israelis from responding to attacks. The terrorists have also rigged civilian houses in Jenin so that Israeli troops would be killed while hunting for terrorists. This despicable lack of consideration for human life, which UNWRA seems to condone by not stepping in, is only one of the weapons that the terrorist groups use against their own people and Israeli civilians. Where is UNRWA while this is taking place?

Even more disturbing is the amount of American taxpayer dollars that funds UNRWA and the fact that the State Department has requested $30 million in additional aid for UNRWA this year. For Fiscal Year 2001, the United States voluntarily contributed an outrageous $101 million above UN dues. Though a finalized amount has not yet been determined for UNWRA funding in Fiscal Year 2002, there have already been calls to further increase that funding.

[. . . . ]Part of the Palestinian's problems stem from their refugee status, so U.S. policy should enhance their lives and teach them skills so that they can abandon refugee life and live a normal life contributing to a peaceful society. Maintaining this "welfare" status quo is not helping anyone. Rather than continuing to fund this poorly mandated and misguided United Nations' program, Congress should begin a thorough review of UNRWA's practices. The American taxpayers deserve more responsible government actions.

The subject of U.S. taxpayer subsidies is also raised in "U.N. Supports Terrorist Camps, " WorldNetDaily, 6 September 2002:

At a time when the United States is being asked to double its contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, not a day goes by that we do not hear about the benefits of these refugee camps.

The benefits are as follows: Suicide bombers come from the refugee camps to produce carnage on the streets of Jerusalem; killers take asylum in the refugee camps; mortars are fired from the refugee camps into Israeli settlements; food warehouses in refugee camps have been transformed into storage facilities for artillery shells, ammunition and mortar rounds; al-Qaida terrorist squads are based in the refugee camps; refugee camps organize official celebrations in honor of suicide bombers who kill Jews in Jerusalem.

This is really a terrific 'benefit package,' funded entirely by the United Nations who is asking the United States to double its contribution. [. . . . ]

UNRWA remains the only refugee agency in the world whose apparent purpose is to perpetuate the status of refugees as refugees. There is no intention of solving the problem, only creating perpetual suffering for the world media to criticize Israel for its abuse of the poor Palestinians.

Every American should remember that on May 15, 1948, when Israel was declared a sovereign state by the U.N., the next day Israel was attacked by five Arab armies in an attempt to massacre the Jews and abort the birth of a Jewish state. To the shock and amazement of the Arab world, they lost that war!

When you declare a war – and lose that war – you must be prepared to live with the consequences of that war. The solution to the Palestinian refugee camps is for Arab nations to allow these people to immigrate. They have plenty of land, the same religion, speak a common language and are swimming in wealth created by OPEC oil. Why won't the Arab nations permit the inhabitants of these refugee camps to immigrate? Because a geo-politically ignorant American society sees CNN's 60-second film clip of the squalor in the camps and blames Israel for the problem. [. . . . ]

Sammy Meshasha, head of Public Affairs of UNRWA in Jerusalem, acknowledges that UNRWA is well aware of the fact that thousands of armed Palestinian Authority security personnel make their homes in UNRWA camps and that UNRWA does not object to such a bizarre arrangement.

Leading Palestinian Arab media analyst and Arafat cabinet member, Ghassan Khatib remarked to CNN, in a February 2002 interview, that every young man in the UNRWA Balata refugee camp now has his own personal weapon. Where did the UNRWA Balata refugee camp residents get their weapons?

Each UNRWA camp hosts a local steering committee which is in charge of distributing the funds received as charitable donations from relief organizations and donor countries around the world. And it is that committee which decides whether to provide food rations or weapons with the money at their disposal.

UNRWA now runs 18 refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Employing a staff of 22,000, 99 percent of whom are Palestinian, the agency spends more than $700 million annually. The United States – which is by far the largest contributor – kicks in $64 million a year.

Its time for Americans to tell our president and elected officials we are tired of our tax money funding terrorist camps supervised by the United Nations to attack Israel.

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The deadly terrorism bred in the UN camps is exposed by Israel's domestic intelligence service, "Shin Bet Documents Misuse of UNRWA Facilities," by Herb Keinon, The Jerusalem Post, 11 December 2002:

[. . . . ] According to the report, the facilities of UNRWA the UN body charged with running the Palestinian refugee camps have been used both to hide terrorists and aid terror activity.

The report stated that a number of Palestinians who have been arrested say that they have used UNRWA facilities and vehicles to plan and carry out attacks. For instance, the report stated that Muhammad Ali Hassan, who was arrested in February, used an UNRWA school near Nablus for target practice and to store ammunition.

The report also documented the use of a UNRWA club in the Jabalya refugee camp and a social club in the El Aroub refugee camp as meeting points for Tanzim members. In addition, the report stated that numerous UNRWA schools were used to hide suspected terrorists.

According to the report, Nidal Nazal, an UNRWA ambulance driver arrested in July, admitted that his ambulance was used to transport ammunition between terror cells. Other detainees admitted that UNRWA vehicles were used by terrorists on their way to attacks.

As a result of these incidents, the IDF recently issued a new directive restricting the movement of UN vehicles throughout the territories. According to the order, soldiers are to prohibit official UN vehicles from passing army roadblocks unless at least three UN or UNRWA personnel are inside. This is a temporary order resulting from intelligence information that terrorists may be attempting to infiltrate by hiding in official UN vehicles.

Israeli officials say the Shin Bet document was prepared three months ago. Even before that, Foreign Ministry legal adviser Alan Baker took the case of misuse of UNRWA facilities to the State Department and US Congress in June, arguing that the camps UNRWA operates contained weapons factories and terrorist training camps. [. . . . ]"

These widely-observed and well-documented conditions have been brought to public attention in a number of published sources. They have even come to the attention of UNRWA itself, who responds on its website, under the heading "Setting the Record Straight":

"The agency is scrupulous about protecting its installations against misuse by any person or group and conducts constant inspections to ensure that its rules are complied with."

Comment: What is set straight here, is that UNRWA does  not even admit that the conditions exist, much less intend to change them.

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Another thing on which UNRWA is averse to change is the wretched living conditions of the residents of its camps.

1] When Israel built new housing at a camp in Gaza, for the benefit of families living in shacks, the United Nations passed a resolution condemning it for "violation of temporary refugee shelters, and forced the families back into the shacks.

2] When Israel built new houses for residents of a camp near Shechem [Nablus], UNRWA forbade anyone to move into them, and even posts a guard at the empty houses to make sure nobody moves in.

3] The Shuafat camp is within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. The Jerusalem city government is willing to give it full service in street paving, sewers and other urban amenities, but UNRWA refuses to allow it.

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The ulterior motives for the conditions inflicted on UNRWA's subjects is a subject of "The Dirty Politics of Humanitarian Aid," by Gerald M. Steinberg, The Jerusalem Post, 19 April 2003:

Amid the intense propaganda war, there is unusual agreement on the developing humanitarian tragedy. No one disputes the fact that many, and perhaps most of the houses in the Jenin refugee camp were destroyed in the fighting, whether by terrorist bombs that were exploded in efforts to kill Israeli soldiers, or by tanks and troops. The residents who did not flee are without regular supplies of food, water and medicines. The same is true, although to a lesser degree, in other areas of intense fighting, such as Shechem (known as Nablus in Arabic), parts of Ramallah and Beit-Lechem.

Yassir Arafat and many of his cohorts, like true Leninists, believe that "worse is better," and the more that Palestinians are seen as victims, the greater the international pressure on Israel. [. . . .] However, Arafat's cynicism does not relieve the rest of the world, including Israel, from attempting to relieve the suffering of the innocent. Without delving into the considerable evidence that many of the adults in these camps were part of the Palestinian terrorist support network, the delivery of humanitarian aid for the others, including children, is part of the Jewish tradition.

The real humanitarian tragedy is that the number of individuals and agencies qualified to deliver this aid without engaging in destructive propaganda is very small. Many of the non-governmental organizations and aid agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, are tainted by their support of anti-Israel political agendas. Self-declared 'peace protestors' are more interested in the publicity and propaganda than in actually helping people. By adopting a policy of confrontation with Israel (and bringing compliant journalists), these propagandists know that any packages will be carefully searched for bombs, while they publicize allegations of Israeli interference with transfer of food and medicine.

UN agencies, in general, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in particular, provide poignant examples of this catastrophic situation. In the 52 years of its "temporary" existence, UNRWA has become part of the problem, rather than providing a solution. In addition to the humanitarian aid, including food, health, education, housing, and other services, UNRWA has also become an central component in the Palestinian political structure. UNRWA is allowed to operate in the camps as long as it cooperates with the political 'rules of the road', determined by the gunmen, thugs and terrorists from Fatah, Hamas and other militias.

In UNRWA-operated schools, the texts of anti-Israeli incitement and rejectionism are part of the standard curriculum. UNRWA facilities have been routinely used as warehouses for weapons storage and for bomb-making factories. UNRWA Director Peter Hansen stumbled through an interview on BBC's Hardtalk with Tim Sebastian, unable to dispute the evidence. Any director who would not have been willing to do Arafat's bidding would have been forced out long ago. As a result, UNRWA cannot be entrusted with the job of providing humanitarian relief under the current circumstances, and the sooner it is closed, the better.

[. . . . ] For the past 54 years, Palestinian suffering has been exploited by the politicization of the agencies and the governments that support them. Once again, it is not Israel that is blocking aid, but rather the members of these groups, who have exploited fundamental ethical principles to further the goals of destroying Israel and spreading anti-Semitism. The time for dismantling these UN groups and NGOs and creating new, apolitical and professional aid agencies is long overdue."

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Not only UNRWA but also UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) is solicitous for the welfare of the population of PLO-land. Coins collected on Halloween and gleaned through the sale of greeting cards support a summer camp for girls in Gaza. It is named in honor of -- and the girls are taught to revere -- the first female jihad-bomber, who blew up herself and passersby on a shopping street in Jerusalem.

END