T. Belman. The obious answer is for Jordan to take them in and naturalize them. This will only happen under Mudar Zahran’s leadership.
By Mike Konrad, AMERICAN THINKER
President Trump seems determined to shut down UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency), the organization singularly preoccupied with caring for the Arab refugees, and their descendants, of the 1947-49 war between Jewish and Arab forces for control of Mandatory Palestine. While the idea seems good – a final nail in the coffin of Palestine dreams – there might be unintended consequences.
Long going, unresolved refugee crises are not unique to the Mideast – think of the Rohingya in Myanmar (Burma), which conflict is partially rooted in British colonial era policies, or the Lhotshampas from Bhutan.
The Mideast crisis gets more pressure because it explodes into open world politics. The usual response given is that UNRWA aggravates the situation by promoting a right of return for Palestinians.
While complaints against UNRWA are accurate, there may be few happy alternatives.
What should UNRWA encourage these stateless people to accept? Even were they now to be refused the term “refugee,” as most were born outside the borders of Israel, that still does not get rid of their existence. One cannot seriously expect UNRWA schoolbooks to educate them as follows: “You are a stateless people without civil rights in the countries where you now reside! Be happy!”
Take, for example, Lebanon, a country that was once majority Christian, and where the percentage of Christians in the population seems to be rebounding. The Muslims in Lebanon are split between violently hostile Shia and Sunni. Into this fractious country came Hezb’allah, sponsored by Iran, to take de facto control of the country.
The naturalization of 400,000 (primarily Sunni) Palestinians into Lebanon would be a demographic disaster and would toss the country into civil war again. Moreover, such a naturalization would bring a call by the approximately 1 million plus – primarily Sunni – Syrian refugees for naturalization. Neither the Lebanese Christians nor the Lebanese Shia would tolerate it.
There is no way those Palestinians in Lebanon will ever be granted any rights. If the Palestinian refugee crisis is a threat to Israel, it is an even more immediate threat to Lebanon.
UNRWA schoolbooks might start blaming the host countries for not naturalizing these Palestinians, but how long would UNRWA be tolerated after that?
Some would counter, “If Arab countries wouldn’t tolerate a non-compliant UNRWA, why should Israel?”
The sad fact is, Israel gets a benefit out of UNRWA.
If, tomorrow, all funding from UNRWA stopped, would this solve Israel’s problems? Apparently, some of Israel’s generals think otherwise. According to the Likud-leaning Israel Hayom:
COGAT [the Office of the Coordinator of (Israeli) Government Activities in the Territories] objects to cuts in aid to UNRWA on practical grounds. … [T]he defense establishment … is afraid that if UNRWA is unable to help hundreds of thousands of needy Palestinians due to budget cuts, Israel will see rioting, an escalation in violence, and terrorist attacks.
There it is in a nutshell. For all the complaints against UNRWA, there is a body of opinion that UNRWA keeps the pot from boiling over, if for no other reason than that UNRWA feeds the Palestinians in Gaza and Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Remove that lifeline, and either Israel will have to feed the Palestinians or hunger-fueled violence will increase.
Many in the Zionist community howl against UNRWA, but as Israel Hayom has noted:
A decade later, [COGAT Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad], as head of the Diplomatic-Security Branch of the Defense Ministry … coordinated with then-Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren to torpedo a congressional initiative against the [UNWRA] organization. UNRWA might be bad, Gilad told Oren, but Hamas is worse. Gilad’s successors have kept to that line, and like the IDF they see the UNRWA as the lesser of two evils.
Israel played both sides of the debate against U.S. funding. The U.S. was excoriated for subsidizing UNRWA, but in quiet chambers, the congressmen were encouraged to vote for it.
The sad fact is, Israel, as much as the Palestinian Authority, benefits from UNRWA, though Israel likes to pretend otherwise. What the U.S. does not provide to keep the peace, Israel may have to provide to some degree. This can be easily observed in Palestinian purchasing habits. Newsweek noted that “[m]any Palestinians have little choice but to purchase Israeli products.” Cut UNRWA funding, lay off Palestinians, and it will also be Israeli manufacturers who are hurt.
Like it or not, indirectly, subsidies to UNRWA also subsidize Israel. One can see why Israel quietly supported funding UNRWA.
All of this is a perpetual treating of the symptom, not the problem.
The problem is the “refugees,” including their descendants. No one wants them. Despised and disenfranchised people tend to get angry in response, and so we have violence.
The usual response is that the Palestinians have brought it on themselves, and to a certain extent, that is true. But a lot of that bad behavior of the Palestinians is a response to their situation. Imperial Germany and Italy exported their poor and troublemakers to America, where, once treated better, these social problems became upstanding Americans. The same was true of other ethnic groups. Ironically, the complaints against Palestinians among Arabs echo the early 20th-century complaints against Jews among Europeans.
Mike Konrad is the pen name of an American who wishes he had availed himself more fully of the opportunity to learn Spanish better in high school, lo those many decades ago. He runs a website about the Arab community in South America at http://latinarabia.com.
It’s too late.