UNRWA as obstacle to Peace

Thank you very much for inviting me to the Knesset today to speak about the
problems of UNRWA.

Let me begin by saying that the problem with UNRWA runs much deeper than its
school curriculum. Even if UNRWA teachers taught only mathematics in their
schools, and even if there was no anti,Semitic propaganda disseminated by them,
UNRWA would still be a very negative force in this conflict and a very strong
obstacle towards peace. Its basic function runs contrary to the possibility of ever
achieving peace.

Now, why is UNRWA such a threat to peace? In what ways?
Well, a basic tenet of the peace process is the “Two states for two peoples” solution,
meaning that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people, and the future Palestine
would be the nation state of the Palestinian people. Both peoples can exercise their
right of self,determination, and this should not be threatened.

So a strong Jewish majority should remain in Israel. Any attempt to change this, or to
threaten Israel’s Jewish character, , for example by a massive return of Palestinian
refugees , is perhaps the surest way to kill any peace agreement: there is
overwhelming support in Israel – from Meretz in the Left to the Bayit Yehudi in the
Right – that Israel’s nature should be retained.

The international community has accepted that. For example, the Clinton
parameters of 2000 call for the resettlement of the Palestinian refugees in Palestine
and not in Israel. In fact, no Western country is officially promoting a refugee return
or the eradication of Israel.

The Palestinians however insist on their right of return, and show no willingness to
forgo or even minimize this demand.

Insisting on the right of 5 million people (no less!) to resettle in Israel – signifies the
refusal to accept the outcomes of the 1948 war; and the refusal to accept that the
State of Israel is here to stay. It is a symbol of the Arab position that the whole land is
theirs.

Now, why is UNRWA a threat? What does UNRWA do that jeopardizes this basic
principle of the peace process?
UNRWA in its existence is the strongest agent and promoter of this Palestinian
dream that all Palestinian refugees could indeed one day return to Israel, or at least
be able to choose if they wish to do so. Again, I am not talking about this or that
teacher inciting in class, but about the whole mechanism and function of UNRWA,
which is doing everything it can to perpetuate and eternalize this conflict.
In what ways –
First, UNRWA identifies people as refugees without them being refugees at all. It has
an unprecedented and unparalleled definition of who is a Palestinian refugee. So
there is one definition for Syrian, Bosnian or Afghan refugees – and a separate one
for Palestinians. Of the 5 million currently registered as refugees by UNRWA, the
overwhelming majority does not meet the international criteria and standards of
being a refugee.

Let me explain. Of the 5 million “registered refugees” by UNRWA, some 2 million
live in Jordan and are citizens of that country. They were given citizenship in 1950.
There is no other refugee in the world – not even one single refugee – who holds a
passport and is still considered a refugee. Normally, when a refugee obtains the

citizenship of a host country he is no longer considered a refugee. Not in our case.
Palestinians in Jordan are both refugees and citizens.
That’s for the 2 million living in Jordan. But what about 2 million more who live in
the West Bank and Gaza?

Their situation is very strange: they are considered “refugees from Palestine”, and at
the same time they live in Palestine. Again, no other refugee in the world resides in
his homeland while retaining the status of refugee. In other cases, these people are
called “internally displaced persons” (idp’s), and do not have the right to return to
their homes. Palestinians who were displaced in 1948, and settled in the West Bank
and Gaza, should have been considered idp’s in the first place. The world considers
Nablus, Hebron and Gaza to be part of Palestine. So how come people residing there
are refugees , from Palestine?

The only explanation of course is that these people want to resettle in Israel and not
in the future state of Palestine. Meaning, again, that they do not accept Israel’s right
to exist. This is their political vision, not their right. But why should a UN body
unjustifiably give them an official stamp and tell them: “go on, keep on dreaming”
and tell them that they are in fact entitled to their homes in Israel when it has
nothing to do with international law or normal standards? Just to repeat: the
overwhelming majority is not entitled to have the status of refugee. So what does it
mean? Why did UNRWA grant them this status? It means that UNRWA is a political
factor that supports a maximalist vision of the Palestinians.

The international community should not support and facilitate this dream through
an unprecedented definition of refugee. And that is exactly what UNRWA is doing
and how it is hurting the chances of peace. By giving millions of Palestinians the
status of refugee, UNRWA in fact endorses the dream to eradicate Israel.

Another point. UNRWA has also, quite bizarrely in my view, taken upon itself the
task of building a national heritage and a collective memory for the Palestinians, by
having photo exhibitions, book publications etc, emphasizing their suffering and
displacement. Have you ever heard of any other UN body, again – supposedly
neutral, taking upon itself to build the national heritage of just one side to the
conflict? Well, I haven’t.

But it’s even worse – because this heritage focuses entirely on the events of 1948
(the so,called Palestinian Nakba) and on the refusal to accept the outcome of that
war. The international community acts on the one hand as if it wants to deal with
the outcomes of the 1967 war – meaning the territorial issue of the West Bank – but
UNRWA is making it impossible for the Palestinians to accept the outcomes of the
1948 war. so on the one hand the international community promotes the two states
solution, but on the other hand it promotes the Palestinian dream of eradicating
Israel.

And this is the main problem: that UNRWA facilitates and makes it possible for the
Palestinians to not recognize Israel.

The international community gives each year more than a billion dollars (that’s the
annual budget) to an organization that is devoted to a cause which means the end of
Israel.

UNRWA gives the Palestinians an official stamp of the international community that
their real home is not in Gaza, but in Israel. That their dreams are legitimate, and it
never tells them to come to terms with the State of Israel.

If UNRWA really acted as a humanitarian project, and not as a political factor, the
Palestinian refugee problem would go back to its natural dimensions, and would be
much easier to solve. We should remember that there were some 50 million
displaced people in the 1940’s, when the Palestinians were displaced, but none of
them remains today in that status. They were simply resettled because they came to
terms with the outcomes of the respective conflict.

Some people say that supporting UNRWA does not mean endorsing the Palestinian
Right of Return, or that Palestinians know that they are not going back to Israel. But
this is wishful thinking. A major study by International Crisis Group – not an Israeli
advocacy group – discovered that not only do Palestinians view their right of return
as sacred; but that they also attribute almost “supernatural significance” to UNRWA
as a symbol for international support of their demand.

So to sum it up, I think that the problem with UNRWA is that it facilitates and
promotes a maximalist Palestinian vision of massive return and of eradicating the
State of Israel. UNRWA encourages millions of Palestinians to keep dreaming on a
One Great Palestine, instead of Israel, and the world gives UNRWA a billion dollars a
year to promote this idea.

I also think that it is precisely people in Israel and outside Israel, who are in favor of
the “2 states” concept, such as me, that should understand that maintaining UNRWA
as it is, is destructive for the chances of peace.