Swiss diplomat Phillipe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, has just been asked to appear on the record and in person before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Following the recent discovery of Hamas arsenals inside and below UNRWA schools, the new Palestinian Authority educational curriculum is of immediate concern. This curriculum indoctrinates Palestinian Arab children, encouraging them to conquer all of “Palestine” by force of arms. This is hardly an appropriate goal for a U.N. agency.

1. UNRWA textbooks violate U.N. principles of peaceful reconciliation. For example, the agency has reintroduced a new textbook that lionizes terrorist Dalal Mughrabi. In 1978, Mughrabi’s terror squad commandeered a bus and murdered 38 passengers, including 13 children. The textbook presents her as a role model for UNRWA pupils. She is depicted in full terrorist garb. The lesson plan portrays her life story as suited for adulation and emulation.

2. In Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and Gaza, UNRWA makes exclusive use of Palestinian Authority textbooks. Like all U.N. agencies, UNRWA is supposed to run schools based on the U.N. slogan “Peace Begins Here.” P.A. schools, however, promote the ideology of the Palestine Liberation Organization: Conquest of “Palestine” by force of arms. Lazzarini could immediately cancel the UNRWA-P.A. contract.

3. UNRWA schools are adorned with posters and murals of “martyrs” who died while murdering Jews. Lazzarini could order the removal of all such images from UNRWA facilities.

4. El Kutla youth clubs in UNRWA schools inculcate pupils with the mantra of the armed struggle from a young age. Lazzarini can order these clubs to end violent incitement.

5. Military parades are frequently held on UNRWA premises. Lazzarini can end this practice immediately.

6. Hamas members lead UNRWA’s teachers and workers unions. Lazzarini can stipulate that any agency employee who runs on a “Hamas ticket” must be dropped from the payroll. After all, even the U.N. defines Hamas as a terrorist organization.

7. “Nakba Day” events are held at UNRWA facilities each year on May 15, the day the PLO mourns the defeat of the Arab armies that invaded Israel in 1948. These rallies call for violence. Lazzarini can issue a directive banning any incitement to violence at such events.

8. Popular Gazan singer Mohammad Assaf, who claims to be a “UNRWA Youth Ambassador,” routinely incites crowds to violence. Lazzarini can issue a policy statement banning Assaf from UNRWA premises.

9. Memorial events for Arabs killed while murdering Jews occur regularly in UNRWA schools. Lazzarini can cancel them.

10. Lazzarini can ensure fiscal transparency. UNRWA receives $1.6 billion in annual donations from 67 nations and 32 NGOs, mostly in cash. Lazzarini must ensure that this money is used for humanitarian needs, not stolen by terror groups. He must also put an end to all cash donations, which make transparency almost impossible.

11. Using the diplomatic pouches of donor nations, UNRWA exports textbooks promoting the “right of return” of Palestinian Arab refugees and their descendants, along with the replacement of Israel with an Arab supremacist “Palestine.” Lazzarini can end this practice immediately.

12. UNRWA has never revealed its financial practices, including how it spends its budget. Lazzarini can immediately release an accounting of expenditures to the public.

13. UNRWA distributes world and regional maps that erase Israel and replace the names of all Israeli cities with Arabic names. Should Israel, a U.N. member in good standing, not appear on a map issued by a U.N. agency? Lazzarini can end this practice of cartographic ethnic cleansing immediately.

14. Over the past 25 years, thousands of UNRWA students aged 9-16 have participated in summer camps that feature arms training with live weapons. With summer approaching in a few months, Lazzarini can act to stop this training of child soldiers that violates U.N. resolutions protecting the health and well-being of children.

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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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