I wrote about a Washington Post article about UNRWA, but one section needs to be analyzed a bit further.
As far as I know, no one has directly ever asked UNRWA why two millions full Jordanian citizens should still be considered “refugees” and why they should deserve some 40% of all UNRWA funds. But the question has been floating out there, and UNRWA spokeperson Chris Gunness indirectly addressed it in this quote:
“They have to decide,” said UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness. “We couldn’t say to you, ‘You’re a citizen now’ ” — as Jordan has declared some 2 million Palestinians in that country — “ ‘you have to give up the right of return.’ ”
Gunness is admitting that Jordanian Palestinians are not really refugees, but that UNRWA exists in Jordan in order to maintain the fiction that there is a “right of return” for Palestinians even if they are full citizens of any country worldwide.
Now, how much money does it cost to tell Palestinians that they have the right to “return” and destroy Israel (which is what “return” means to begin with)?
Not a whole lot.
But how much does it cost to keep the issue of “return” on the international agenda?
About $1.2 billion a year, which is UNRWA’s budget.
Gunness is tacitly admitting here that the “refugee” issue is not the reason UNRWA exists. If it was, then the 80% of Palestinians who live in the borders of the British Mandate or are citizens of Jordan would not deserve a penny of international funds. (Neither would most of those in Syria and Lebanon, although they would deserve aid for being stateless, and UNHCR does provide support for stateless non-refugees.)
But we see from Gunness’ statement that UNRWA is not a refugee agency. It is an agency that uses the refugee excuse to keep Palestinians’ hope alive that they will one day destroy Israel.
It is easier for UNRWA to raise funds by calling its beneficiaries “refugees.” Gunness has done us a service by admitting that the so-called refugee issue is a fig leaf for UNRWA’s real aim, to educate generations of descendants of Palestinians that they will “return.”
These millions of people are political pawns being kept in limbo because UNRWA exists. Every single Palestinian in Jordan, even when they are citizens, are reminded every day that they are not really fully Jordanian, by using a parallel education and infrastructure system separate from Jordan’s. Every single Palestinian in an UNRWA camp in the West Bank and Gaza are reminded by this UN Agency that they are not permanent residents in the State of Palestine that the UNGA recognizes, but that they are really meant to live in Israel – and that until that day they are not receiving “justice.”
Gunness cannot answer why UNRWA exists in Jordan without mentioning the fictional “right of return.” But UNRWA cannot raise any money by emphasizing that aspect of its purpose, so all we hear about are “refugees.” As this quote shows, UNRWA knows quite well that the people they take responsibility for are not refugees, but cannon fodder to destroy the Jewish state.
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