A Tale of Two Refugee Agencies

Most people are probably not aware, there are two separate UN agencies charged with looking after refugees. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which serves only Arab Palestinian refugees, and the United Nations High Commision for Refugees (UNHCR), which looks after everybody else. Compare the statistics of the two agencies:

UNRWA

UNRWA serves only Arab Palestinian refugees, and some 4.6 million are registered. This includes the children & grandchildren of the original Arab refugees of 1948. The areas of operation are Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and West Bank. UNRWA employs over 27,000 staff in two Headquarter Offices (Gaza and Amman), five Field Offices (Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and West Bank), and four Representative/Liaison Offices (New York, Geneva, Brussels and Cairo). As of 31 May 2008, the Agency’s largest contributors for 2008 are the United States, the European Commission, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway and the Netherlands. UNRWA’s General Assembly-approved cash budget for 2008 is US$ 541.8 million. This funds the Agency’s ongoing Education, Health and Relief and Social Services activities. This works out to budget of $11,778 per year to look after each Palestinian.

UNHCR

The UNHCR employs a staff of 6,300 people in more than 110 countries to help 32.9 million persons.
The total annual budget for 2008 was $1.5 billion. This works out to budget of $4,545 per year to look after each refugee.

The UNHCR website looks very much like a charity, focused on serving people in need without partisan political propaganda. In contrast, he UNRWA website is thick with militant political slogans and speeches condemning Israel and glorifying the Palestinian Resistance. Revealing isn’t it?

How UNRWA undermines Palestinian Democracy

UNRWA performs most of the usual functions of governance for the Palestinian population: education, medical care, food distribution, water & sewage. As such, they are a major employer among Palestinian Arabs. The effect of this internationally funded welfare is to relieve the the local administration, whether in the West Bank or in Gaza, of all the usual responsibilities of government. This leaves the two terrorist organizations, Fatah & Hamas, free to engage in their “core competency”, terrorism. In other words, through the UNRWA, the international community, including the US, aids & abets Palestinian terrorism against Israel.

Another effect of this arrangement is to undermine democracy in the Palestinian territories, since the people need not rely upon Hamas or Fatah for normal services. It is not in the interest of Fatah or Hamas to work for peace, as that would remove their funding structure. It’s not even in the interest of the Palestinian people to demand their leaders work for peace, as peace would undermine their largest employer and a host of services they rely upon. All the incentives of the UNRWA system mitigate against peace in favour of terrorism. The entire system is structured to perpetuate terrorism.