Mr. Chairman, thank-you for the opportunity to address this report on the situation of Palestinian refugees. While Canada is only an observer in this Assembly, we have a significant interest in this issue as Canada is a major donor to UNRWA, and continues to hold the Chair on the Palestinian refugee issue at the UN.

I agree with many of the report’s principal recommendations regarding the need for normal legal status for Palestinian refugees. Indeed, two years ago our Foreign Affairs Minister expressed Canada’s willingness to contribute to the peace process by accepting Palestinian refugees for resettlement. But militants from Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction responded to his generous offer by burning our Minister in effigy in refugee camps, demonstrating that for too long innocent Palestinians have been held captive by forces in the Arab world who have opposed the normalization of their status for political reasons.

While I recognize the good humanitarian work done by many UNRWA employees in difficult circumstances, I want to focus my remarks on a disturbing element of Palestinian refugee settlements which the report fails to address: namely, the open promotion of a culture of hatred and violence in UNRWA camps which stands as one of the principal obstacles to an enduring peace in the region. Too many of the camps have become breeding grounds for anti-Semitic propaganda and terrorist activity that has resulted in the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians.

As early as 1976, the Lebanese Ambassador to the U.N. indicated that camps were being used as de facto military bases. He said:

“The Palestinians acted as if they were a state within the State of Lebanon… They transformed most, if not all, of the refugee camps into military bastions.”

Today, UNRWA camps act as command stations for the worst terrorist groups in the region.

Twenty-three homicide bombers are known to have originated from the Jenin camp alone.

The former US Ambassador to Morocco said that “other organizations, including extremist Islamic organizations, operate freely in the camps.”

In some regrettable cases, UNRWA employees themselves have been affiliated with terrorist groups, like the case of Saheil Alhinadi, who praised the Hamas bombers who routinely murder Israeli civilians. He said that

“The road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies.”

Upon entering several refugee camps in the West Bank last year, Israeli troops found illegal arms caches, bomb-making factories, and missile workshops. While the Agency is not a police or security force, it surely cannot avoid all responsibility to ensure that the camps that it administers do not turn into terrorist bases.

As U.N. Secretary-General Koffi Annan himself said: “Refugee camps and settlements must be kept free from any military presence or equipment, including arms and ammunition.”

UNRWA has failed in this regard, and measures must be put into place that its resources are never used, even indirectly, by those planning or advocating murder and hatred. Such measures are contemplated by the UNRWA Accountability Act now before the US Congress. Terror groups like Hamas represent the greatest obstacle to peace in the Middle East, and we cannot ignore their abuse of settlements administered and funded by a UN Agency.

Not only are UNRWA camps operational centres for terrorists today, but too often they act as a breeding ground for future terrorists. Half of UNRWA’s budget and over two-thirds of its staff are responsible for administering the educational system. UNRWA schools educate almost 250,000 Palestinian students using textbooks introduced by the Palestinian Authority.

In 2001 and 2002, the Centre for Monitoring the Impact of Peace performed a comprehensive analysis of these textbooks using criteria set out by UNESCO.

The Centre found that: “The educational approach employed by the [Palestinian National Authority] does not reflect international standards as defined by UNESCO. The textbooks do not teach acceptance of Israel’s existence on the national level, and instead of working to erase hateful stereotypes, the new PNA curriculum is instilling them into the next generation’s consciousness.”

The Palestinian textbooks, which are purchased by UNRWA, contain no reference to the State of Israel and erase Israel from maps of the region.

The “shahid”, or martyr, is praised as the spearhead of the resistance to Israeli occupation. Reports have indicated that posters glorifying suicide bombers have been posted in some UNRWA schools, while teachers known to be affiliated with Hamas have won election as representatives of their local teachers’ unions.

There will never be peace in the Middle East until peace is taught. By funding and operating schools that delegitimise the State of Israel while legitimising violence, we are helping to ensure that this conflict will not be resolved for another generation.

In conclusion, I believe that the Council should support the Resolution’s call for normalization of Palestinian refugees’ legal status, and that we should commend UNRWA for the positive humanitarian work that it strives to achieve, but must ensure that camps operated largely through UN resources and oversight are not used to promote a culture of anti-Semitism and terrorism.

Thank-you.

Speech Given on June 24, 2003

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