Don’t Dismantle UNRWA; Reform Its Policies

By David Bedein

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 556, August 9, 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The desire of Prime Minister Netanyahu to dismantle UNRWA, while understandable in light of the agency’s egregious history of collusion with Hamas, is not a practical proposition. Israel can, however, demand that funding to UNRWA be conditioned on the agency’s reform in multiple areas.

Virtually every media outlet took UNRWA’s condemnation of the Hamas tunnels found under an UNRWA school at its word. Yet none of them reminded the world that both the UNRWA school teachers’ union and the UNRWA workers’ union of Gaza have been under the tight control of Hamas since 1999, without a word of disapproval from the agency. Nor does UNRWA appear to object to the use of its facilities by Hamas to teach violence and war. This summer, for example, Hamas will conduct its annual summer military training camp to train upwards of 50,000 UNRWA students, aged 9-15, in the use of live weaponry.

The statement by the Prime Minister of Israel that UNRWA should be ”dismantled” indicates that the Israeli government hold’s UNRWA responsible for the existence of the Hamas terror tunnels under its school. Adi Schwartz, in his piece “Dismantle UNRWA” (BESA Perspectives Paper #528), concurs with the PM that UNRWA should cease to exist.

Unfortunately, however, it is not within Israel’s power to ”dismantle” UNRWA. The agency operates under the mandate of the UN General Assembly, and only that organ can shut it down. Even if 30 or 40 nations vote to change the UN mandate, the Arab League and the automatic majority of “non-aligned nations” would vote down any decision perceived as pro-Israel.

If Israel and the Western democratic nations were to cut funds to UNRWA, two scenarios would likely occur:

1. The radical Islamic state of Qatar, which has established a presence in Gaza and in the West Bank, would likely step in to replace any lost income.
2. Saudi Arabia, which recently increased its funding of UNRWA to become its number three donor, would likely increase its contribution.

If these two Gulf states were to become the largest donors to UNRWA, no leverage could be brought against the agency to cease connections with Hamas or other terror groups.

What, then, can the ?Israeli government do about UNRWA?

Jerusalem can demand that the 68 donor nations to UNRWA condition the release of funds on reforms of the agency in six areas:

1. Ask for an audit of donor funds given to UNRWA. This would address widespread documented reports of wasted resources, duplication of services, and undesired flow of cash to the Gaza-based terror groups that have controlled UNRWA operations there for the past 18 years.
2. Introduce UNHCR standards to UNRWA to advance the resettlement of Arab refugees. Palestinian refugees have spent 68 years relegated to refugee status. Current UNRWA policy is that any refugee resettlement would interfere with the “right of return” to pre-1948 Arab localities. By adopting a political stance in favor of Palestinian maximalists, UNRWA flouts its own commitment to the welfare and future of Palestinian refugees.
3. Cancel the UNRWA curriculum, which is based on jihad, martyrdom, and the “right of return” by force of arms.
4. Cease paramilitary training in all UNRWA schools.  ??It is an absurdity that UNRWA, a UN agency with a purported commitment to “peace education,” allows such training on its premises.
5. Insist that UNRWA dismiss employees affiliated with Hamas, in accordance with laws on the books in western nations that forbid aid to any agency that employs members of a terrorist organization.
6. UNRWA recently hired a “youth ambassador”, Muhammad Assaf, to travel the world and encourage insurrection and violence. This would be an appropriate time to demand that UNRWA cancel its contract with a promoter of war.

Now that the Israeli government has finally come to the conclusion that UNRWA is an impediment to peace, it should act within the bounds of reality to curb the agency’s misconduct. It is possible to reform UNRWA, not dismantle it.

David Bedein, MSW, who founded and has directed Israel Resource News Agency since 1987, administers the Center for Near East Policy Research in Jerusalem. He is the author of Roadblock to Peace – How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict: UNRWA Policies Reconsidered and The Genesis of the Palestinian Authority. His website can be found at: www.israelbehindthenews.com

Scrutinizing UNRWA terror involvement

New scrutiny by US Congress and Israel’s Knesset may lead to a stand on the organization that thinks that rules are for other people.

Once again this summer, Hamas  operates military preparation summer camps for 250,000 teenagers who attend UNRWA schools during the school year.

Working with an Israeli-Palestinian team of journalists over the past few years, I run a news agency that  documents  and films how UNRWA allocates cash from donor nations to conduct military training for children in the UNRWA classroom along with weapons training camps which Hamas organizes for UNRWA children.

Al-Kutla al-Islamiya, a division of Hamas, runs military activities, which attract UNRWA’s younger students, paving the way for recruitment in al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

UNRWA “education” teaches children how to fight, shoot lethal weapons, use hand grenades, and climb through various spaces all in preparation for war.

After exposure to al-Kutla, elementary and middle schoolers join a week long war games program, held in a military campment, where they study “jihad, determination, to trust Allah and other Islamic values” in addition to military tactics.

In other words, a  UN agency OPENLY violates the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, which states “children… should not be forced or recruited to take part in a war or join the armed forces”.

Binding legislation passed by the US Congress requires UNRWA to vet personnel to see determine if there are terrorists on their payroll is ignored.

Yet the US  has never insisted that  that UNRWA vet its personnel:

The US Congressional Research Service reports that the US has never even asked if UNRWA humanitarian funds wind up in the hands of HAMAS or if HAMAS is present in UNRWA.

UNRWA therefore remains in violation of  US penal code § 2339B  – providing material support or resources to a designated FTO.

On the record, the Hamas Minister of Religion told us on camera “Hamas’ relationship with UNRWA is good, very good! We assist UNRWA and Hamas cooperates with UNRWA on many levels. Now a direct connection exists between UNRWA and Hamas.”

(Click at 5:34 at “Children’s Army of Hamas” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO4UKXmr8zk )
Now, the US Congress has directed the General Accounting Office, the GAO, to determine if UNRWA is indeed engaged in cooperation with act of terrorism and terror incitement. .

Senator James Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the US Senate Near East Subcommittee of the US Foreign Relations Committee, disclosed to me  that his office o made an official request in June of the GAO, the US General Accounting office, for an investigation of the alleged involvement of terror groups with UNRWA education..

All this will provide background material for the newly formed Knesset Lobby for UNRWA Reform, which was convened at the Knesset on July 19, just before the UNRWA summer recess, and which  will reconvene in late October,, when the US GAO report on UNRWA terror involvement will be released

Knesset Member Avi Dichter, former head of ISA, the Israeli Security Agency, who now chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, points an unusually harsh finger at UNRWA, warning from the rostrum of Israel’s Knesset Parliament that “almost 100 percent” of UNRWA workers in Gaza are active in the Hamas terrorist organization.”

David Bedein is the director of Israel Resource News Agency and also administers the Center for Near East Policy Research. He is also the author of “Roadblock to Peace – How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict: UNRWA Policies Reconsidered” and “The Genesis of the Palestinian Authority.” His website is www.israelbehindthenews.com.