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After World War I, the League of Nations divided most of the Ottoman Empire into Mandated territories. The British were given provisional Mandate over Palestine under which one of the conditions was to help the Jews establish a national home. This was opposed by the Palestinian Arabs. The Jews on their part were also unhappy with the British for drastically limiting Jewish immigration and land purchases by them. During World War II the Palestinian Arabs and Jews ceased their resistance to British rule. Many of them joined the Allied forces. After the War the United Nations Special Commission on Palestine recommended that Palestine be divided into an Arab state and a Jewish state, with Jerusalem being put under international control. The UN General Assembly adopted this plan officially in November 1947. The Jews accepted the UN decision but the Palestinian Arabs were against it.
The First Arab Israeli War
When Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, it sparked off the First Arab-Israeli War on 15 May 1948. The conflict heralded the end of the British mandate of Palestine. It resulted in the deaths of 6,373 Israelis and between 10,000 to 15,000 Arabs. The end of the war that took place on 20 July 1949 was marked by the signing of the last armistice agreement between the new State of Israel and Syria. The end of the war was also marked by the creation of a massive number of refugees – 10,000 of them Jewish and 711,000 of them Palestinian (Mahalo.com).
History & Establishment of UNRWA
As the First Arab-Israeli War was nearing its end, international organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross , League of Red Cross Societies and the American Friends Service Committee began providing emergency aid to Palestinian refugees. In November 1948, the United Nations set up the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees . It had 2 objectives. The first was to provide assistance and relief to Palestinian refugees. The second was to organize and direct the aid and relief works of Non-Government Organizations as well as other UN agencies like the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund , World Health Organization , Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Relief Organization . However, when the war actually ended in July 1949, the creation of a huge number of refugees forced the UN into believing that creation of a separate UN agency wholly devoted to Palestinian refugees would be more appropriate (Un.org/qa). The UN General Assembly therefore passed Resolution 302 (IV) on 8 December 1949 to create the United Nations Relief and Works Agency as a temporary subsidiary organ of the UN (Aruri, 127).
The official Mandate of UNWRA which in basically to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees to meet their basic daily needs (Aruri, 168), is three pronged. Firstly, to execute direct relief works and action plans in cooperation with local host governments. Secondly, to discuss with governments in the Near East regarding steps to be adopted in anticipation of such time that international aid would cease. Thirdly, to develop its own plans to be ready for such a time when relief would not be further required any more. The UN decided that the UNRWA Mandate would be renewed after every 3 years until a morally correct solution to the Palestinian refugee problem is arrived at. After taking over the assets of UNRPR and the refugee registration data of ICRC, UNRWA officially started its field operations on 1 May, 1950 (Un.org/qa).
UNRWA Funding
After the UN decided that since UNRWA was a temporary organization it would be better served by mostly voluntary donations, UN member nations have traditionally donated funds to it, which forms the bulk of its finance that goes towards funding its biennium budgets (Un.org/qa). Since 1950, UNRWA has received contributions amounting to $ 6.9 billion from 116 donor nations. The biggest donor has been the European Union with $ 2.96 billion, ahead of the U.S with $ 2.45 billion, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries with $ 0.26 billion and Israel with $ 15 million (Badil.org) followed by the Scandinavian countries, Canada and Japan. A small part of UNRWA donor funds comes from NGOs and philanthropic individuals (Un.org/qa). In terms of single nation contributions, it is the U.S which has been the biggest donor to UNRWA, contributing around $ 100 million per year (Pilon).
The remaining part of UNRWA funds comes from the UN itself. The UN Secretariat provides funds for payment of remunerations of over 100 international staff employed by UNRWA, while other UN agencies such as United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization and WHO also help in staffing of the UNRWA education and health services. The current UNRWA budget for the financial year 2008/2009 is officially $ 1.1 billion, but UNRWA recently increased it by a further $ 262 million in order to carry out its functions and programs in a better and more effective manner (Un.org/qa).
UNRWA beneficiaries
The general beneficiary of UNRWA is the Palestinian refugee who UNRWA defines as one who normally resided in Palestine between 1 June 1946 and 15 May 1948, and who became bereft of home and means of earning a living due to the First Arab-Israeli War. This definition is meant to include persons who exactly fit the above requirements as well as descendants of fathers who exactly fit the above requirements. The specific beneficiaries of UNRWA who are eligible for its services, are Palestinian refugees registered in the 5 fields of UNRWA operations. Palestinian refugees who have either not registered with UNRWA, or who do not live in its 5 areas of operation are not eligible to avail of UNRWA services (Un.org/qa).
UNRWA started its mandated job with a list of 950,000 Palestinian refugees that was handed over by its predecessors in May 1950. By August that year, after thorough census and weeding out of fraudulent names, the number was cut down to 860,000 (Un.org/qa). On 30 June 2003 the total number was 4,082,300 (Dean, 1285). As of 30 June 2008, the official number is 4,618,141. The breakdown of this figure is as follows (Un.org/publications):
UNRWA services to Palestinian refugees
UNRWA officially started functioning on 1 May 1950. Its sole function involves supplying services to eligible Palestinian refugees living in its 5 fields of operations. In a departure from the path of other UN agencies that function through local authorities, UNRWA instead supplies its services directly to Palestinian refugees, makes its own plans and strategies, executes its own operations and constructs/runs installations like schools and health centers. UNRWA presently has 900 facilities which are run with the help of around 29,000 staff members in all the 5 fields of operations (Un.org/overview/index).
The primary UNRWA services include relief and social services, education and health for which nearly 82% of its budget is utilized (Dean, 1285). The secondary UNRWA services include emergency aid and special projects/programs. UNRWA services are provided to around 1.3 million refugees who reside in the 58 recognized camps in the 5 fields of operations. To aid the refugees and be most effective, UNRWA services are situated in close proximity to these camps (Un.org/overview/index).
Relief & Social Services
UNRWA provides direct assistance to the most destitute eligible families of Palestinian refugees who are enduring special hardships and are not able to provide for their own primary requirements in the form of materials and finance to relieve their current unfortunate condition. Such destitute eligible families are those not only lacking the presence of a male adult who is medically capable of earning an income, but also bereft of other visible means of financial assistance enough to meet their primary needs such as food and shelter. Through its Special Hardship Assistance Program under which such destitute eligible families are registered, UNRWA supplies support in the form of food rations and monetary gifts every 90 days. It is estimated that around 63,865 Palestinian refugee families totaling 249,992 individuals or 5.7% of all registered refugees in the 5 fields of operation avail of this aid. Apart from its basic assistance, SHAP evaluates the need of destitute eligible families before also providing selective cash and shelter rehabilitation. UNRWA continuously assesses updates and amends refugee registration records and ration cards to determine which families are eligible for SHAP aid (Un.org/overview/index).
Education
Provision of basic, free education constitutes the biggest part of UNRWA services, for which around 50% of its regular budget is spent and 67% of its staff members are employed (Un.org/index). During the 2002/2003 scholastic year there were 490,949 pupils enrolled in 656 UNRWA schools in which 17,572 staff was employed (Dean, 1285). During the 2005/2006 scholastic year there were 485,471 pupils in 663 schools . While the school curriculum conforms to that of the host nation, UNRWA also adds special education enhancement programs which are taught in all UNRWA schools. The UNRWA special education programs have drawn warm appreciation from many quarters including the Israeli delegation to the UN (Un.org/overview/index).
In addition to its schools, UNRWA also operates 8 vocational and training institutions with 5,431 seats as well as university level teacher training programs in Jordan, Lebanon and the West Bank that impart marketing skills as well as teacher training. The teacher training programs ensure that enough trained teachers are always available to teach in UNRWA schools (Un.org/overview/index).
The overall UNRWA education service has been impressively effective. The literary level among Palestinian refugees is estimated at 92.4% (Un.org/statements). Palestinian refugees educated in UNRWA schools are not only ranked among the best educated of all Arabs, but they also enjoy a reasonably good standard of living (Pilon).
Health
In what has been widely acclaimed as one of the most cost-effective health care systems, UNRWA operates 125 primary health care facilities in its 5 fields of operations in addition to a 63-bed hospital located in Qalqilia in the West Bank. UNRWA health care facilities supply high standard general health services, mother-and-child medical services, family planning services and health education aimed at heightening knowledge and understanding of the important need to prevent diseases. If patients require specialized hospital facilities , UNRWA pays back part of the costs incurred through contracts with certain designated hospitals. UNRWA health services also include safeguarding the Palestinian refugees in the 58 official camps in the 5 fields of operations from outbreak of diseases by adopting environment-friendly methods such as supplying safe drinking water, providing hygiene and sanitation, controlling insects and rodents, and providing proper sewage and solid waste management (Un.org/overview/index).
Emergency Aid
UNRWA has supplied emergency aid to Palestinian refugees as well as non-refugees on several occasions in times of crisis. The first occasion was during the protracted civil warfare in Lebanon followed by the 1982 Israeli invasion of that country. UNRWA supplied emergency aid in the form of food, medical care and housing to a huge number of homeless refugees. The second occasion was during the first intifadah in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. UNRWA supplied emergency aid in the form of food and medical care to the refugees as well as non-refugees (Un.org/overview/index). The third occasion was during the second intifadah in 2000 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. UNRWA supplied food and medical aid to refugees as well as non-refugees (Un.org/qa).
Since 2000 UNRWA has been supplying emergency aid to a large number of refugees adversely influenced by the continuing warfare in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Un.org/overview/index). In November 2000 UNRWA appealed for emergency humanitarian aid of $ 39.1 million to assist Palestinian refugees affected by the most recent escalation of violence in the region and the Israeli-imposed blockade on territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Responding to the gravity of the situation and the need to quickly supply emergency aid, UNRWA followed this up by 5 appeals for emergency humanitarian aid in quick succession: $ 37.2 million in April 2001, $ 77 million in June 2001, $ 117 million in January 2002, $ 70 million in May 2002 and $ 55.7 million in July 2002 (Dean, 1285).
Special Projects and Programs
UNRWA has taken up special projects as a way of expressing solidarity with identified needs or as a way of actively helping and encouraging a wider spectrum of political and socio-economic events. Financial backing for the 841 special projects to the tune of $ 387.4 million has come in the form of donations and pledges from UN member countries (Un.org/overview/index).
Examples of these projects are the Tel Es-Sultan housing project in Rafah where refugees from a camp in Canada were recently rehabilitated, the Neirab rehabilitation project in Syria, and a series of projects executed in the period between October 1993 and December 1999 under cover of the Peace Implementation Program that came into being after the Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles was signed in 1993 (Un.org/overview/index). It included the building of 33 schools, rehabilitation of 4,700 shelters, upgrading of solid waste disposal facilities in the Gaza Strip and feasibility studies for 2 sewerage systems (Dean, 1285). The biggest project of UNRWA is arguably the European Gaza Hospital located near Khan Younis city in the Gaza Strip which was completed in 1996 in collaboration with the European Union. Meant as a contribution to the Palestinian health infrastructure, the 232-bed hospital (Un.org/overview/index) also has an affiliated nursing college. Both the hospital and nursing college were handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 1999 (Dean, 1285).
UNRWA supplies technical and financial assistance to a system of 104 community based organizations including women’s program organizations and community-based rehabilitation organizations run by local voluntary recruits. The CBOs enable disadvantaged refugees to have the means of entry to advantageous chances to deal with their socio-economic requirements and encourage them to become self-reliant (Un.org/overview/index).
UNRWA has created a special Microfinance and Microenterprise Department that has 8 objectives. The first is to reduce poverty, generate jobs and assist in economic development and income earning chances by supplying Palestinian business owners with working capital and investment finance. The second objective is to provide credit to businesses via 5 lending products in the territories of Jordan, Syria, West Bank and Gaza: micro enterprise credit product , solidarity group lending product , small scale enterprise product , consumer lending product and housing loan product . The third objective is to expand beyond just supplying micro credit to supplying a broader spectrum of financial facilities to those living in poverty. The fourth objective is to raise the amount of lending and extend the Department’s reach to such persons who are unable to obtain credit because they cannot provide the requisite collateral. The fifth objective is to urge women to play a bigger role by taking part in the economy. The sixth objective is to urge Palestinian youth to become business entrepreneurs. The seventh objective is to become self-sufficient with finance generated from its credit activities. The last objective is to become operationally and financially self-sustaining (Un.org/overview/index). Choosing Yarmouk as the location for its first office due to it being host to the biggest number of Palestinian refugees in Syria, UNRWA began practically implementing microfinance and microenterprise schemes in June 2003 that was meant to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees as well as Syrians by lending millions of dollars to owners of small businesses among them. It is anticipated that the program will provide around 1,500 loans during its initial year of operation, 3,320 loans in 2004 and thereafter around 3,360 loans each year of value nearly $ 4 million (Unwire.org).
In recent developments, UNRWA set up an income generation program in 1991 to supply capital loans to small businesses and micro enterprises with the aim of creating sustainable employment and eradicating poverty. By 30 June 2006, $ 72.7 million was given out in 60,146 loans to new and existing Palestinian-owned enterprises (Dean, 1285).
Expiration of UNRWA Mandate
Due to the continuing Palestinian refugee problem, the UN General Assembly has had no alternative but to go on renewing the UNWRA Mandate. While renewing the latest Mandate , the UN General Assembly declared it was in response to the continuing needs of the Palestinian refugees throughout the occupied Palestinian territory and in other fields of operation (Un.org/qa). Although it started off as a temporary agency, UNRWA has adapted its functions and services in response to the changing requirement of Palestinian refugees. Today, UNRWA continues to operate and provide its services to more than 4.6 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East in anticipation of the time when a just solution is arrived at so that its own functions are no longer required (Un.org/overview/index).
Failings of UNRWA
UNRWA has been accused of grave misconduct on several occasions.
The first accusation was made in June 1982, charging that UNRWA facilities were utilized by the Palestine Liberation Organization to engage in activities such as recruitment to its cadres, training, storing weapons and sending radio messages. Proof of the accusation, provided by Israeli troops in Lebanon, was so strong and incapable of being disproved that the UN was forced to admit its authenticity. The UNRWA misconduct, coming on the back of accusations that the PLO was brazenly running several UNRWA refugee camps itself under cover of the Cairo Agreement, caused the U.S to hold back its yearly donation of $ 67 million in 1982 for many months until the UNRWA issued a pledge that it would exercise vigilance not to allow such infringements in future (Pilon).
The second accusation is very similar to the first. During the yearly convention of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on 31 March 2003, the Centre Simon Wiesenthal charged UNRWA with encouraging terrorism as it ignores militant operations in its camps so obviously that many of the camps have turned into bomb-making factories; UNRWA has even enrolled the terrorist outfit Hamas’ members in its payroll, so much so that Hamas is widely seen as managing the UNRWA Area Staff Union (Un.org/allegations).
The third accusation was made by a UN Joint Inspection Unit in its 1983 report. It stated that since the majority of the Palestinian refugees did not need food aid, it would be more feasible to replace food aid with food coupons and divert more resources to encourage small self-help projects which have already been established as an important method of bettering the state of repair of shelters, school buildings, installations and sanitation facilities. The report went on to observe that surprisingly, UNRWA staff strongly deterred the adoption of self-help measures. The JIU observation prompted Harvey Feldman, member of a U.S delegation to the UN to call the UNRWA staff response the “most disquieting fact about UNRWA” which constitutes a directly opposite tactic as compared to other refugee agencies, and exposes the UNRWA “lack of willingness and expertise to generate self-help projects” (Pilon). This accusation was seconded by the Centre Simon Wiesenthal in 2003 that charged UNRWA with promoting a culture of dependency among Palestinian refugees (Un.org/allegations).
The fourth accusation is that information about the number of registered Palestinian refugees with UNRWA is wrong and misleading. A U.S State Department report found 2 aberrations. Out of 2,012,700 registered Palestinian refugees in May 1984, as many as 750,000 were Jordanian citizens. Secondly, only about 30% of those registered and stipulated to be residing in the camps actually live in the designated camps (Pilon) .
The fifth accusation is that while education comprises the bulk of UNRWA services and 67% of UNRWA staff comprises of teachers, a large part of its education has been greatly politicized to the advantage of the Arab countries’ assessment of the Middle East conflict and to the detriment of the State of Israel. Israel has often complained that UNRWA school classrooms are teeming with anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli propaganda (Pilon). The Centre Simon Wiesenthal charged in 2003 that UNRWA schools and textbooks teach hatred of Israel (Un.org/allegations). A Commission of the UNESCO also discovered that more than 50% of UNRWA school textbooks provided a lopsided version of history, blatantly encouraged violence, or used anti-Jewish language. Noted Middle East analyst and journalist Milton Viorst wrote that the Palestinian teachers in UNRWA schools are overwhelmingly militantly nationalistic (Pilon). This view was echoed by the Centre Simon Wiesenthal that charged UNRWA with not attempting to promote unbiased staff views and attitudes, and not attempting to advocate tolerance and understanding in its schools (Un.org/allegations). UNRWA has been charged with having developed into a fertile ground conducive for building Palestinian nationalist sentiments as well as into a political tool regularly utilized by the Arabs to portray that the formation of the State of Israel was a criminal plot hatched between the Israelis and the U.S, while the legitimate, displaced beneficiaries are enduring great difficulties and suffering. The Arab stance conveniently ignores the fact that Arab nations enjoy direct benefits from UNRWA. For example, in a single year UNRWA expenditure within Jordan and Syria was $ 52 million and $ 15 million respectively. Charles Lichtenstein, the previous U.S Ambassador to the UN for Special Political Affairs sums up this accusation well: “UNRWA today mirrors the rejectionist agenda of the radical irredentist Arabs and is an instrument of the implementation of that agenda just as the Palestinians are a weapon in the political struggle” (Pilon).
The sixth accusation is that due to the lack of legal power to operate in any country without the consent of its government, UNRWA is lawfully unprotected against actions of host governments. This obstructs its functions and operations. For example in October 1982 when Israel volunteered to supply bulldozers without any fee to assist Palestinian refugee camps located in South Lebanon to be better prepared for winter, and also volunteered to supply 500 free prefabricated houses to shelter refugees, its offer was summarily rejected by Dennis Brown, chief of the UNRWA office in Sidon on grounds that acceptance of the offer would arouse the hostility of the host Lebanese government. In this context, UNRWA compares unfavorably with other UN agencies like the UNHCR which possesses the right to offer security to refugees and to portray itself as their legal protector (Pilon).
The last accusation is that the number of UNRWA staff has increased disproportionately to its functions and services. Between 1950 and 1982, the number of UNRWA staff increased by a massive 300%, resulting in staff salaries accounting for nearly 67% of the UNRWA budget (Pilon).
Alternative proposals
In view of the many failings of UNRWA, several alternative proposals have been floated. They all have a common underlining: they firmly separate the humanitarian part from the political angle of refugee aid (Pilon).
The first proposal involves rectifying UNRWA. As the U.S possesses huge leverage over UNRWA because it is the largest contributor to its funds, it must start taking advantage of this leverage by making UNRWA abide by the strict standards of accountability as laid down by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees concerning utilization of funds, and also stringently monitor its collaboration with Palestinian organizations (Pilon).
The second proposal envisages a large role for NGOs in helping Palestinian refugees as this will ensure better quality of services and better delivery of such services as well. The U.S should deduct around 25% of its yearly contribution to UNRWA and divert that amount towards subcontracting NGOs (Pilon).
The third proposal involves deducting and diverting a percentage of U.S contribution to UNRWA to the United Nations Development Program for the purpose of undertaking studies of possible development programs for Palestinian refugees. The UNDP has an impressive track record of already taking up projects like providing equipment for agricultural display and training including highly developed latest personal education to agriculturists, provision of housing structures/equipment/training for career restoration of disabled people, and building of a big services center (Pilon). This proposal is similar to the recommendation of the Centre Simon Wiesenthal which urged the UN to replace UNRWA with UNHCR as the primary UN agency to handle the Palestinian refugee issue (Un.org/allegations).
Conclusion
While UNRWA continues functioning in the absence of any appropriate political organization to carry on this initiative (Aruri, 256), it is obvious that there is no way out in the face of continued Israeli intransigence and American support of it (Aruri, 113) while a large number of players in the region are not interested in solving the Palestinian refugee subject as they prefer to cater to their own selfish political aims and keep the problem festering as an open insult to the UN and a threat against Israel (Pilon). The so-called peace process remains frozen on subjects pertinent to non-refugee issues which themselves are being compromised (Aruri, 108). As a result, strong pessimism clouds the possibility of a negotiated settlement that will result in the formation of a practicable Palestinian State – a State under which title the refugee subject can be fairly and impartially resolved thereby enabling the Palestinian people to have their self-respect as a people restored to them (Un.org/statements).
Meanwhile, the Palestinian refugees continue to bear the brunt of insufficient and improper action from the international community that offers no solution to the problem other than lamely say that ‘international law recognizes the Palestinians’ right of return’ (Azuri, 125). The Palestinian refugees have earned the unenviable reputation of living in a postponed condition of exile as refugees for 6 decades – longer than any other individual collection of refugees. While a few of them who have survived the First Arab-Israeli War still exist, the majority comprises descendants of Palestinian refugees (Un.org/statements). The Palestinian refugees are being forced to wait in resignation for the international community to come up with a just and viable solution to their 60 year old ongoing problem.
References
- “1948 Arab Israeli War.” Mahalo.com. 2008.
- Aruri, Naseer. “Palestinian Refugees: The Right to Return.” London: Pluto Press. 2001.
- “The Assistance Gap.” Badil.org. 2007.
- Dean, Lucy. “The Middle East & North Africa 2004.” London: Europa Publications. 2003.
- “Frequently Asked Questions.” Public Information Office, UNRWA Headquarters. 2008.
- “Overview.” Public Information Office, UNRWA Headquarters. 2008.
- “Palestinian Refugees: Area of UNRWA Operations.” Passia.org. (N.d). 2008.
- Pilon, Juliana Geran. “How the UNRWA Has Failed the Palestinian People.” Heritage.org. 2008.
- “Setting the Record Straight.” Public Information Office, UNRWA Headquarters. 2008.
- “Statistics.” Public Information Office, UNRWA Headquarters. 2008.
- “UNRWA Launches Microfinance Program for Palestinians, Syrians.” Unwire.org. 2003.
- “What Next for Palestinian Refugees?” Public Information Office, UNRWA Headquarters. 2008.
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