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Fixing UNRWA

(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) James G. Lindsay - In its first years, UNRWA undoubtedly saved the lives of many destitute Palestinian refugees. Since that time, it has provided its beneficiaries with education, health, welfare, microfinancing, and housing services. At the same time, UNRWA has gradually adopted a distinctive political viewpoint that favors the Palestinian and Arab narrative of events in the Middle East. In particular, it seems to favor the strain of Palestinian political thought espoused by those who are intent on a "return" to the land that is now Israel. UNRWA's adoption of any political viewpoint is undesirable, but the one it has chosen to emphasize is especially regrettable. In addition to clashing with the objectives of the U.S., this view has encouraged Palestinians who favor refighting long-lost wars and discouraged those who favor moving toward peace. Palestinian refugees are provided with assistance not because they have an inherent right to the resources of Western taxpayers, but because 60 years ago the West (principally the U.S. and Britain) chose to provide it. Changing from refugee status to citizen status will discomfit many Palestinians, for whom UNRWA has become a reliable safety net. But it is time for the U.S. to demand changes in UNRWA that will allow the agency to meet its original mission: to fully "reintegrate" Palestinian refugees into the economy of the Middle East, to bring direct UN assistance to an end, and to allow Palestinians to take responsibility for their own futures. The writer served as legal advisor and general counsel of UNRWA from 2000 to 2007.
2014-05-22 00:00:00
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