Jerusalem mayor boots UNRWA from city

Barkat announced that the city is in the process of removing the Palestinians’ UN agency from the municipality for “creating a false sovereignty.”

By: JNS.org

“We are putting an end to the lie of the ‘Palestinian refugee problem’ and the attempts at creating a false sovereignty within a sovereignty,” says Mayor Nir Barkat.

The city of Jerusalem will evict the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) in light of the organization’s illegal activities and incitement of Palestinians against Israel, according to Mayor Nir Barkat on Thursday.

In a statement, Barkat said the new U.S. policy cutting $300 million to the controversial organization inspired the move, which will see unlicensed UNRWA-run schools, medical centers and sports facilities transferred to Israeli authorities.

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According to Barkat, who is stepping down from his position after municipal elections at the end of the month in order to run for Knesset, schools will be closed by the end of the current school year.

“The U.S. decision has created a rare opportunity to replace UNRWA’s services with services of the Jerusalem Municipality,” he said. “We are putting an end to the lie of the ‘Palestinian refugee problem’ and the attempts at creating a false sovereignty within a sovereignty.”

UNRWA was founded in 1949 to provide aid to Arab refugees from Israel’s War of Independence. Still operational today, UNRWA not only provides funding and resources to tens of thousands of remaining refugees, but also to their 5 million-plus descendants in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the Palestinian Authority.

The United Nations has not identified descendants of refugees as refugees in any other population dispute worldwide.

Israel has argued that UNRWA perpetuates the problem of Palestinian “refugees” by discouraging their absorption in other countries, as well as inflating their numbers.

Israel absorbed 688,000 Jews between 1949 and 1951, following the Holocaust and the expulsion of Jews from Arab countries. Between 1989 and 2006, Israel absorbed approximately 900,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union.

October 6, 2018 | 1 Comment »

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  1. It’s amazing how much gumption that the Israeli weakling machers have discovered since Trump came on the scene. Almost everything positive they do now has been inspired by Trump. Even Netanyahu has become less appeasing and more assertive n his dealings with the goyisher world.

    All we need now is for that injection of courage to seep down into the heart and mind of our Defence Minister who will stop issuing interminable “warnings” about “the next time” and take strong, serious action about THIS time…

    I must say that this 688,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries is the very first time I’ve seen such a low figure. It is usually between 850,000 and a million. But the MAIN lesson is that tiny, always overstretched Israel absorbed them alone without international help, except for donations from wealthy Jews from abroad.