or years I have been part of a
small cadre of determined individuals who saw clearly the damage being done by
UNRWA -- the UN Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees. Damage to
prospects for peace in this region, and damage directly to Israel.
There is so much wrong with this
agency that it's impossible to document it all in this post. Suffice it to
say the following:
UNRWA is the only international
refugee agency in the world dedicated to one group of refugees -- the
Palestinian Arab "refugees." All other refugees are tended to by the UN
High Commission for Refugees. And what's astounding is that UNRWA's rules for
"its" refugees are different from the rules for all those other
refugees.
UNHCR works to get refugees
resettled as quickly as possible -- even if the only alternative is settling
them permanently in the place to which they had fled or to a third place -- so
that they might get on with their lives.
UNRWA, however, which is
functioning from an orientation that is highly politicized and heavily
anti-Israel, says that "its" refugees continue to be refugees even if they get
citizenship elsewhere. ONLY "returning" to Israel would eradicate that
status. What is more, UNRWA says descendants of refugees are also
refugees, indefinitely via the patrilineal line. Which means UNRWA
promotes "return" to Israel of people who have never been here, and whose
parents or even grandparents have never been here either.
So, while other refugee
populations diminish over time, the rolls of UNRWA have grown
exponentially. Hey! the idea here is to invade Israel by demanding
that "right" for some roughly five million counted locally, or seven
million world-wide.
A good way to conquer Israel without lifting a machine gun.
~~~~~~~~~~
Over the years, I have
examined this approach of UNRWA and written about the fact that the
so-called "right of return" does not exist. But I have also considered the
deprivation of human rights endured by those refugees; the tendency for them to
be radicalized because of their frustrations; the inciteful nature of UNRWA
education; and the close link to UNRWA of Hamas -- which, for starters,
controls its school system in Gaza.
~~~~~~~~~~
But now the focus has turned on
the matter of refugee status within UNRWA, with regard to the number of
descendants (which is increasing) vs. the number of original refugees (which is
clearly diminishing as time passes).
Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) is
attempting to have an amendment attached to the funding bill for the State
Department, for fiscal year 2013, that would require the State
Department to provide to Congress: 1) the number of Palestinians
physically displaced from their homes in what became Israel in 1948, and 2) the
number of their descendants administered by UNRWA (that is, on UNRWA's
rolls today as refugees).
Credit:
alternet
This is just a beginning, but a
fantastic one that is long overdue. It calls public attention to the games
being played by UNRWA, and ultimately will call into question US funding for
UNRWA. The US is the single largest donor to UNRWA and the fact that a
great deal of the US funds for UNRWA go to assist grandchildren and
great-grandchildren of those who fled in 1948 is not going to be received well
in many quarters.
~~~~~~~~~~
It is, however, a tough
battle. The State Department is on UNRWA's side. (Are you
surprised?) UNRWA itself, along with its adjunct American Friends of
UNRWA, does exceedingly good PR. At any given time you can find
an article in one place or another documenting the splendid work that UNRWA does
for these poor, long-suffering refugees.
~~~~~~~~~~
If you live in IL, and are thus a
constituent of Senator Kirk, let him know if you are pleased with what he is
doing:
~~~~~~~~~~
I'd like to share links to two
articles on this issue, to which I will undoubtedly return in time:
"Counting Palestinian refugees" by
Daniel Pipes, founder and president of the Middle East
Forum.:
"Counting Palestinians," by
Shoshana Bryen, an analyst of ME affairs and former Senior Director for Security
Policy at JINSA
~~~~~~~~~~
Let me add here, as well, that
Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) has taken a very active interest in UNRWA as
well: He has focused on the textbooks, and deprivation of human rights
of the refugees. His contribution is valuable, and there is hope that he
will advance his work via Congressional hearings on the issue.
Credit:
Awrambatimes
And again, if you are a
constituent of Congressman Smith (4th Congressional district of NJ), let him
know if you are pleased that he is looking into UNRWA's school books and related
problems:
~~~~~~~~~~
The hot topic now is "Flame" -- a
massive piece of computer malware that is apparently affecting computers in
Iran. Larger than, and quite different from Stuxnet, it is designed
primarily to spy on the users of infected computers and steal data from them,
including documents, recorded conversations and keystrokes. (I'm reading that
it also opens a backdoor to infected systems to allow the attackers to
tweak the toolkit and add new functionality, and I share this for those who
comprehend.)
Recently discovered, and named, by
the anti-virus firm of Kaspersky Lab in Russia, it has apparently been
around for at least two years; speculation is that it may have been a companion
to Stuxnet. While the greatest number of infections appears to be in Iran,
it has also been picked up in PA areas, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and
Egypt.
For more detailed
information:
.
~~~~~~~~~~
Iran, of course, is blaming Israel
for this malware.
Minister of Security Affairs Moshe
Ya'alon commented on Army Radio today:
"Israel has been blessed with a
prolific hi-tech sector that opens possibilities in both the business and
security fields."
But many nations have high
tech capability and see Iran as a threat. "Whoever sees the Iranian threat
as a significant threat is likely to take various steps, including these, to
hobble it."
~~~~~~~~~~
This is a good example of Israeli
ingenuity:
A company that makes heavy-duty
locks, Multi-T-Lock, and a company that makes GPS tracking devices, Starcom
Systems, have jointly developed a product that was conceptualized by Maxim
Prilutsky of Starcom: A "smart lock" that sends a message if it has been
tampered with.
This represents a great advance in
security systems and can even protect trucks.
~~~~~~~~~~
©
Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
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