Israel Matzav

Trying to shift the blame

Today's Jerusalem Post inlcudes an op-ed from Karen Koning Abuzayd, who is the commissioner-general of UNRWA. Ms. Abuzayd attempts to justify her agency's facilitating the exploitation of 'Palestinian refugees' by the Arab world by placing the blame for these people's nearly sixty-year presence in 'refugee camps' on Israel:

A curious point is often made by those who express misgivings about UNRWA's role: If only it were left to UNHCR, it is claimed, the refugees would all be settled somewhere and the problem would be solved. As a former staff member of UNHCR myself, I know as well as anyone that UNHCR is mandated to offer refugees three options to resolve their status as refugees and place them on the path to resuming normal lives: local integration, resettlement in third countries, or return to their home country.

These solutions depend on favorable political circumstances and on the causes of refugee flight being resolved. The solutions must also be accepted voluntarily by the refugees themselves. For UNHCR, the return of refugees to their homes, once conflict has subsided, is considered the preferred solution. But here, the stalemate is clear:

The Palestine refugees, and the countries that host them, deem the first two options unacceptable, while the third is rejected by Israel.

At the end of World War II, thousands of Jews were scattered among the politically correctly named "DP camps" (Displaced persons camps) throughout Europe. These Jews could not and did not want to return to their home countries, where all had been destroyed, and for the most part they did not want local integration either. Yet fellow Jews and many non-Jews found third countries to take them. Some went to the United States, some went to western Europe and - despite the best efforts of the British empire and their Arab co-conspirators - some went to Israel. Within a few years that started just before UNRWA was formed, the surviving Jews of the concentration camps had found their way to other countries. The DP camps were closed. Isn't that what UNRWA should be doing instead of waiting for an 'ideal' that is unlikely to ever occur?

Ms. Abouzayd claims that

Unsurprisingly, no-one wishes for a quick solution more than the refugees themselves: Being a refugee is not a plight one would wish upon anyone.

If this is true, then it seems to me that the 'refugees' ought to be willing to go anywhere they are accepted to escape their status. The Arab countries who don't accept their fellow Arabs ought to be ostracized by the world community. Surely, western Europe, which so strongly supports the 'Palestinian' cause would be thrilled to have more Arabs in their midst. Or is there something Ms. Abouzayd is not telling us?

There are a lot of things she's not telling us, which is what makes her whole article disingenuous. She's not telling us that UNRWA provides shelter for terrorists. She's not telling us that the 'Palestinian organizations' react with fury when third coutries actually try to provide shelter to 'Palestinian refugees.' And she's not telling us the truth: there is no such thing as a 'Palestinian' people:

In a March 1977 interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw, Zuhair Mohsen, then a leader of one of the PLO factions explained the origin of the 'Palestinians.'

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.

UNRWA is what the psychiatrists call a facilitator: it facilitates the perpetuation of the fraud of the 'Palestinians' at international expense. It allows millions of people to continue to live a lie. Unless and until the world community decides to turn off the faucet and stop the fraud, the fraud will continue for generations. If the world wanted to end this fraud, it could do so in a matter of months. Obviously, someone wants it continued.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:51 PM