Israel to seek closure of UN refugee aid agency

[vminfla]

Israel intends to ask the U.N. to close down the aid agency that assists Palestinian refugees living in Judea and Samaria, Gaza and Jerusalem, saying the organization poses an obstacle to any future peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians because of its distorted definition of the term "refugee."


The Israeli initiative, proposed by MK Einat Wilf (Independence), follows months of Palestinian efforts to obtain unilateral recognition of statehood at the U.N. and membership in several of its agencies. UNESCO (the U.N. Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) granted "Palestine" membership last month, prompting the U.S. to cut funding in accordance with a law requiring financial ties to be cut with any U.N. agency that affords the Palestinians membership. Israel also said it would freeze funding to UNESCO and announced plans to ramp up construction in Judea and Samaria as a punitive measure against the Palestinians.


Now Israel plans to pursue its own measure at the U.N. to shutter the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, in an effort spearheaded by Wilf. UNRWA is the only U.N. aid agency dedicated to helping refugees from a specific region or conflict, and is separate from the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees, which is dedicated to aiding all other refugees around the world.


http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=1905

[atreides1]

1. Why not just push them out

At least that would be a more honest way of getting rid of them...no recognition, no tax money...why not just push them over the borders into Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt

If the Israeli government keeps making the West Bank and the Gaza strip smaller and smaller...eventually the Palestinians will become the problem of the surrounding Arab countries...and don't worry about the US saying or doing anything...most of what the US has provided the Palestinians has been little more then lip service anyway!

[vminfla]

2. Although some times parents have to push their kids out the nest

This is not quite the same thing. Where in all of the UN history has there been a dedicated "refugeee" relief agency for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation "refugees"? It is unprecedented. Israel is merely shining a spotlight on the UN's folly.