Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called on the United Nations Thursday to end inequality in the treatment of Jewish and Arab refugees.
Ayalon was in Geneva to mark the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.In his address, he called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to end the agency's "morally and politically unacceptable" solution created for the Palestinian context -- a separate agency altogether, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
"While the UNHCR has found durable solutions for tens of millions of refugees, the agency created specifically for the Palestinian context, UNRWA, has found durable solutions for no one," Ayalon told the ministerial meeting."This has meant that a peaceful solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians remains further away. This is morally and politically unacceptable."
Israel's deputy foreign minister also raised the issue of the Jewish refugees from Arab lands who were forced out of their own homes over the past 60 years.
"The refugee issue is a core element towards finding a solution to our conflict and in its broader context would have to address both the Palestinians and the Jewish refugees from Arab lands," Ayalon maintained. "Jewish refugees also require redress."