The professional staff of Israel Resource News Agency at the Center for Near East Policy Research (www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com) has, since August 1, 2000 , translated and examined the new school books issued by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education and used by 321,000 students of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

In the newest PA school books, used by UNRWA, all of which our center has examined, areas settled by “Zionists” are defined for the Arab school child as occupied and illegal, with the explicit command given to obliterate them.

Both sides of the political spectrum in Israel have been misled into believing that what is on the table for negotiations is the territory area taken by Israel in 1967

In fact, the UNRWA school system (which operates in 59 Arab refugee camps in Israel, Jordan , Syria and Lebanon) now calls for a violent “right of return by force of arms” to all lands lost to the Arabs in 1948.

Most observers ignore the UNRWA reality –of five million descendants who dwell in “temporary shelters” financed by a $1.2 billion of donations from 67 nations, with little transparency.

What can be done? The UNRWA mandate, debated by the UN General Assembly every five years since 1949, is now up for renewal.

The time has come for the donor nations of the world to defuse the toxic UNRWA powder keg: This can and should be accomplished in six steps.

  1. Cancel the new UNRWA curriculum which incorporates 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.”
  2. Cease paramilitary training in all UNRWA schools. UNRWA should demonstrate commitment to UN principles for “peace education”.
  3. Insist that UNRWA dismiss employees who are affiliated with Hamas in accordance with laws on the books in Western nations, which forbid aid to any agency that employs members of a terrorist organization.
  4. Insist that UNRWA cancel its contract with “youth ambassador” Mohammad Assaf to travel the world encouraging anti Israeli violence.
  5. Insist on an independent 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 during the past 18 years.
  6. Introduce UNHCR standards to UNRWA to advance the resettlement of Arab refugees. Current UNRWA policy is that refugee resettlement would interfere with the “right of return” to Arab villages that existed before 1948.

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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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