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Background
The United
Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East (UNRWA) is mandated to provide education, health, and relief
and social services for Palestinians. Established in December 1949,
the agency spent over $300 million in 2001 alone. While serving
local populations, it is clear that UNRWA's achievements also
impacts on local issues. This paper will examine the effect of
UNRWA's work on the peace process in the Middle East.
Numbers and Social
Conditions
UNRWA's mandate
covers 27 Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza and
another 32 camps in neighbouring countries. Reliable refugee numbers
vary. Officially, at least, services are provided to approximately
four million Palestinians. However, according to several sources, it
is well known that UNRWA rarely updates its records to account for
people who have left the area, passed away, or simply no longer
require assistance.
Living standards in the camps are not of a high standard. Despite
the wealth of many Arab states, little substantial help from these
countries is ever sent to the refugees. Clearly, UNRWA can fulfill
an essential role in supporting schools, medical services, and other
basic needs.
Calls for Reforming
UNRWA's Mandate and Operational Role
As a result
of the ongoing Palestinian Intifada, the humanitarian situation in
the Middle East has deteriorated over the last two years. During the
same period, UNRWA's role has often been criticized for an apparent
blurring of its responsibilities, and there is growing international
pressure for UNRWA to devise to a more balanced code of operation.
At issue is the agency's inability to protect its facilities from
being abused by local Palestinian terror organizations and the
inability of the organization's officials "on the ground" to take an
objective view of regional problems. Specifically:
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UNRWA runs over 250 schools in the West Bank and
Gaza. In the past two years, they have introduced 58 new
textbooks, which ignore the State of Israel, rule out peace
agreements, and actually glorify the hatred of Israel and
Israelis. There are few who can argue that passing on
decades of hatred to yet another generation is beneficial.
Yet UNRWA has failed to take a stand against this lack of
decent educational materials, which fail to support the
professed goals of the international community. In turn, it
fails to support a peace agreement between the parties that
will encourage understanding and mutual respect and that
will condemn terrorism and violence. |
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UNRWA -
supervised camps have become a breeding ground for
terrorists. Tom Lantos, a ranking US politician, has noted
in a letter to Kofi Annan that at least 23 suicide bombers
have emanated from the Jenin camp alone. Attacks by these
same people have resulted in the murder of at least 57
Israelis. |
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Many Palestinians have testified that UNRWA
facilities are used for military training and storage of
equipment. To take but one example, Nidal Nazal, an UNRWA
ambulance driver was arrested July 2002. He admitted that
his ambulance was used to ferry ammunition between terror
cells. To show how widespread this particular abuse has
become, the Red Cross in Geneva was forced to issue a
statement of condemnation. |
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Peter
Hanson, UNRWA's Commissioner General, described the
battle in the Jenin camp in April 2002 as a "human
catastrophe". He estimated that 300 to 400 Palestinians were
killed. According to the United Nations' own conclusion a
few months later (see:
http://www.un.org/peace/jenin/) "Fifty-two Palestinian
deaths had been confirmed by the hospital by the end of May
2002." Palestinian officials on the ground verified the
Israeli estimate of no more than 52 bodies, of which only a
handful were civilian casualties. The damage created by
Hanson's announcement is profound and significant. It calls
into question UNRWA's ability to function as a non-partisan,
impartial organization. |
Beyond these
incidents, are some basic statistics that raise even more doubts
about UNRWA's ability to be a fair and neutral player in the Middle
East:
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Around 24,000 Palestinians are employed by UNRWA, a vast and
near unprecedented number. Without doubting the abilities of
these people, they must hinder UNRWA's efforts to administer
fairly in the region. |
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New evidence
suggests that since 1996, some Palestinian officials have
been stealing UNRWA-financed food and medical supplies,
reselling them on the black market. A prime figure is
corruption is reported to be the PA Minister of Supplies, Mr
Abu Ali Shahin. There is clearly insufficient supervision
and accountability. |
The Future
It must be
of concern to civilised countries to read Karen Abu Zayd, Deputy to
Peter Hansen. He was recently quoted as saying that most UN camps
around the world do try to keep out armed elements. Here, "the
refugees are the armed elements". Kofi Annan, in a reply to Lantos,
does nothing to allay these worries. He states that "...the UN has
no responsibility for security matters in refugee camps".
The future success of UNRWA's own operations in the West Bank and
Gaza is now at risk, as it fails to prevent terror organizations
from establishing an infrastructure in the refugee camps, it
supports these organizations and allows anti-peace materials to be
used in UNRWA-run schools. The important humanitarian work that can
be done by such an agency to help one local civilian population must
be questioned when that same work facilitates the harming and murder
of another local civilian population through acts of terror,
violence and hatred. Basic internal reforms and accountability must
be established within a short period of time.
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