Israel Minister of Defense and Labor Party leader Binyamin Ben Eliezer once declared that the Arab refugee camps in Judea, Samaria and Gaza represent a haven for killers and a threat to the security of all Israeli citizens. Not a day goes by that we do not hear about these refugee camps:
* suicide bombers who come from refugee camps;
* killers who take asylum in refugee camps;
* mortars that are fired from refugee camps;
* food warehouses in refugee camps that have been transformed into storage bins for artillery shells, ammunition and mortar rounds;
* Al Quaeda squads which are based in refugee camps;
* refugee camps which organize official celebrations in honor of their recently-martyred suicide bombers.
Who runs these refugee camps? There is one entity with absolute authority over Palestinian refugee camps. It is not the PLO, not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, Islamic Jihad or any other Arab entity. The agency which runs these refugee camps is none other than UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. This body was established by the UN after the 1948 War of Independence, with a mandate to administer ?temporary shelters? until such time as the refugees earned/won/were granted the right to return to the homes and villages they had fled in 1948 - even if those villages no longer existed.
UNRWA, therefore, remains the only refugee agency in the world whose apparent purpose is to perpetuate the status of refugees as refugees. Indeed, the official curriculum of the free UNRWA education system is based on the idea that refugees must remain refugees until such time as they are repatriated to their homes. Peter Hanson, the Danish-born Director of UNRWA, explains that "the right of return" remains the motto of UNRWA. It is also the cause that unites all of the Palestinian people.
Sammy Messhassha, Head of Public Affairs for UNRWA in Jerusalem, acknowledges the fact that thousands of armed Palestinian Authority security personnel make their homes in UNRWA camps. UNRWA does not object to such a phenomenon, according to Messhassha. Furthermore, Palestinian Authority media analyst Ghassan Khatib remarked to CNN, in a February 2000 interview, that every young man in the UNRWA-run Balata refugee camp now has his own personal firearm. How is that possible? Each UNRWA camp hosts a local steering committee, in charge of distributing the funds received as charitable donations from relief organizations and donor countries around the world. It is that committee that decides whether to provide food rations or weapons with the money at their disposal. Thus, UNRWA food storage bins are turned into ammunition dumps to supply Palestinian gunmen.
UNRWA is now issuing urgent memos for donor nations to allocate funds for its use. In light of the evidence of PA misappropriation, will the nations and organizations that contribute so generously to UNRWA - including the United States, Canada, the European Union and even Israel - now demand that UNRWA dissolve these hotbeds of terrorism masquerading as refugee camps? The UNRWA donor nations need to ask one question, with apologies to Pete Seeger: ?Where has all the flour gone??
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David Bedein is the Bureau Chief for Israel Resource News Agency in Jerusalem (IsraelBehindTheNews.com).
* suicide bombers who come from refugee camps;
* killers who take asylum in refugee camps;
* mortars that are fired from refugee camps;
* food warehouses in refugee camps that have been transformed into storage bins for artillery shells, ammunition and mortar rounds;
* Al Quaeda squads which are based in refugee camps;
* refugee camps which organize official celebrations in honor of their recently-martyred suicide bombers.
Who runs these refugee camps? There is one entity with absolute authority over Palestinian refugee camps. It is not the PLO, not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, Islamic Jihad or any other Arab entity. The agency which runs these refugee camps is none other than UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. This body was established by the UN after the 1948 War of Independence, with a mandate to administer ?temporary shelters? until such time as the refugees earned/won/were granted the right to return to the homes and villages they had fled in 1948 - even if those villages no longer existed.
UNRWA, therefore, remains the only refugee agency in the world whose apparent purpose is to perpetuate the status of refugees as refugees. Indeed, the official curriculum of the free UNRWA education system is based on the idea that refugees must remain refugees until such time as they are repatriated to their homes. Peter Hanson, the Danish-born Director of UNRWA, explains that "the right of return" remains the motto of UNRWA. It is also the cause that unites all of the Palestinian people.
Sammy Messhassha, Head of Public Affairs for UNRWA in Jerusalem, acknowledges the fact that thousands of armed Palestinian Authority security personnel make their homes in UNRWA camps. UNRWA does not object to such a phenomenon, according to Messhassha. Furthermore, Palestinian Authority media analyst Ghassan Khatib remarked to CNN, in a February 2000 interview, that every young man in the UNRWA-run Balata refugee camp now has his own personal firearm. How is that possible? Each UNRWA camp hosts a local steering committee, in charge of distributing the funds received as charitable donations from relief organizations and donor countries around the world. It is that committee that decides whether to provide food rations or weapons with the money at their disposal. Thus, UNRWA food storage bins are turned into ammunition dumps to supply Palestinian gunmen.
UNRWA is now issuing urgent memos for donor nations to allocate funds for its use. In light of the evidence of PA misappropriation, will the nations and organizations that contribute so generously to UNRWA - including the United States, Canada, the European Union and even Israel - now demand that UNRWA dissolve these hotbeds of terrorism masquerading as refugee camps? The UNRWA donor nations need to ask one question, with apologies to Pete Seeger: ?Where has all the flour gone??
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David Bedein is the Bureau Chief for Israel Resource News Agency in Jerusalem (IsraelBehindTheNews.com).