At a time of deadlock in political negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the US, which donates $400 million to UNRWA each year- 33% of the UNRWA budget, can use its leverage to find a solution to the humanitarian plight of the five million of descendants of the refugees from the 1948 war who still wallow in and around UNRWA facilities. Instead of simply throwing money at UNRWA, the US could assert its leadership amongst donor nations to advance UNRWA policies that could improve living conditions of UNRWA refugee residents. The US could offer a realistic humanitarian alternative to the current “refugee status in perpetuity” which fosters a  “right of return” mantra that UNRWA currently  drums into the minds of half a million UNRWA students

In that context, the US could address six policy challenges, which could guide a new way of thinking in US – UNRWA policy reform.

  1. The US could work with all donor nations to ask for an audit of donor funds that flow to UNRWA. This would address widespread documented reports of wasted resources, duplicity of services and the undesired flow of cash to Gaza-based terror groups, which gained control over UNRWA operations in Gaza over the past 18 years. http://israelbehindthenews.com/unrwa-gaza-terrorist-organizations-cooperative-relationship/11632/
  2. The US, as the largest donor to UNRWA, could introduce UNHCR standards to UNRWA, to advance the resettlement of Arab refugees, after 67 years. Current UNRWA policy is that refugee resettlement would interfere with the “right of return” to Arab villages that existed before 1948. http://israelbehindthenews.com/library/pdfs/UNRWAchartcomparison.pdf
  3. The US could ask fellow donor nations to withdraw the new UNRWA curriculum, which incorporate principles of Jihad, martyrdom and an “right of return” by force of arms, in UN schools which are supposed to promote the UNRWA slogan of “Peace Starts Here.” http://israelbehindthenews.com/see-pa-textbook-incitement-for-yourself-funded-by-the-us-taxpayer/14375/
  4. The US could ask for a cessation of paramilitary training in any UNRWA schools. Should UNRWA, as a UN agency, not demonstrate a renewed commitment to UN principles to “peace education”? http://israelbehindthenews.com/israel-and-jews-in-the-newest-palestinian-authority-pa-schoolbooks-taught-in-pa-and-unrwa-schools-de-legitimization-demonization-advocacy-of-violent-struggle-rather-than-peace-of-jihad-martyrdo/14346/
  5. This would be an opportune time for the US to work with all donor nations to insist that UNRWA dismiss employees who are affiliated with Hamas, in accordance with laws on the books in US which forbid aid to any agency that employs members of a terrorist organization. http://israelbehindthenews.com/israel-and-jews-in-the-newest-palestinian-authority-pa-schoolbooks-taught-in-pa-and-unrwa-schools-de-legitimization-demonization-advocacy-of-violent-struggle-rather-than-peace-of-jihad-martyrdo/14346/ and http://israelbehindthenews.com/library/pdfs/UNRWA-SCHOOLS-IN-GAZA.pdf
  6. Since UNRWA has recently hired a “youth ambassador” Mohammad Assaf, to travel the world and encourage insurrection and violence, would this not be the appropriate time for the US to work with all donor nations to ask that UNRWA cancel that contract with a harbinger of war ? http://unrwa-monitor.com/articles/israel-resource-review/are-the-lyrics-of-the-unrwa-youth-ambassador-not-lethal/

The US has an opportunity to take an initiative during the final year of the Obama Administration to address a pressing humanitarian issue that can be solved. That could represent the legacy of the Obama Administration. 

*Author, “ROADBLOCK TO PEACE- How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict: UNRWA policies reconsidered”, David is a social worker and journalist active in efforts to reform UNRWA for the past 28 years. David runs the Israel Resource News Agency and the Center for Near East Policy Research, which has produced books, monographs and movies filmed on location in UNRWA.  Special website on UNRWA policies: www.UNRWA-MONITOR.COM.  Recent report on UNRWA school books: http://tinyurl.com/hjksrrb   Recent UNRWA films: http://tinyurl.com/lxc6xvs

My friend Jack Padwa, who died four years ago at the age of 93, produced the following film, HILL 24 DOES NOT ANSWER, the classic docudrama of the 1948 War of Independence. This movie won the Cannes Film Festival in 1955 – David Bedein

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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