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The UN Refugee Agency with Few Actual Refugees

(Wall Street Journal) Richard Goldberg and Jonathan Schanzer - On Jan. 14, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted that of the 5.6 million people identified as "Palestinian refugees" by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), fewer than 200,000 meet the criteria for refugee status - less than 4%. From 1950 to 2018, American taxpayers contributed more than $6 billion to UNRWA, whose employees moonlighted as terrorists and whose schools were used to promote hatred and incitement, and to store weapons and launch rockets against Israel. There were 800,000 refugees in 1948. Pompeo said: "Most Palestinians under UNRWA's jurisdiction aren't refugees, and UNRWA is a hurdle to peace....It's time to end UNRWA's mandate." Most people registered with UNRWA are citizens or permanent residents of another country - such as Jordan - or currently reside within the borders of a future Palestinian state. Richard Goldberg is a senior adviser and Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2021-02-04 00:00:00
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