Two top UNRWA officials resign
Two top UNRWA officials have
resigned their positions and will be heading back to North America.
Adnan Abu Hasna said Barbara Shenstone, the West Bank director, and John Ging, based in the Gaza Strip, were stepping down.
“Ging has proved through his continuous work in the Gaza Strip, and during times of crisis, that he is an authentic defender of Palestinian rights, and endeavored to improve their living conditions,” Abu Hasna said.
“The people of Gaza know what Ging has done for them before and after the war.”
Ging is to join the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in New York and Shenstone is to return to her native Canada, UNRWA commissioner-general Filippo Grandi said in a brief statement.
"Barbara and John have made exceptional contributions to UNRWA’s work under the most difficult circumstances: their commitment to ensuring the quality of UNRWA services has been extraordinary," he said.
Neither Shenstone nor Ging could immediately be reached for comment. UNRWA officials in Ramallah said the international agency would release a statement explaining why the two officials resigned.
Ging is quite popular among the 'Palestinians.' Shenstone is less so.
Read the whole thing. Maybe she will speak the truth once she is home?
Labels: Barbara Shenstone, John Ging, UNRWA
J Street sponsorting the UNRWA narrative
I apologize again for how sporadic the posting has been today. It's been one crisis to the next....
The 'pro-Israel, pro-peace' J Street lobby is sponsoring an evening with UNRWA's director of Gaza operations John Ging next week in Washington DC. The details are
here. Unfortunately, no one thought to invite
Andrew Whitley.
However, if you are in the Washington area, you might consider showing up and asking Mr. Ging why he doesn't tell the 'refugees' the truth, as Mr. Whitley suggested, and why he keeps complaining of 'starvation' in Gaza when we have all seen pictures of the fully-stocked stores, opulent hotels, etc. that exist in the Strip.
I find it incredible that an organization calling itself 'pro-Israel' would sponsor Mr. Ging, particularly with no speaker to counterbalance him.
Labels: Andrew Whitley, Gaza, J Street, John Ging, UNRWA
UNRWA allowed to take four submachine guns into Gaza
UNRWA, which enables the 'Palestinians' to maintain the myth of being 'refugees' after four generations, has been allowed by the IDF to take four submachine guns into Gaza. The weapons will be used to protect UNRWA director John Ging and UNRWA's commissioner general Fillipo Grandi. Ging has been complaining for three years that the
handguns used by his security guards are not enough.
The UN body asked for German Heckler and Koch submachine guns for UNRWA's commissioner general, Filippo Grandi, and for Ging.
The organization told Israeli security officials that its personnel are being threatened by Hamas representatives. UNRWA operates 221 schools in Gaza and dozens of medical centers, employment centers and women's help centers.
More than a million refugees and their descendents are registered with UNRWA, which operates eight refugee camps in Gaza.
In March 2007, gunmen fired at Ging's convoy and he escaped without injury. In the summer of 2007, armed men again attacked him, in Rafah, killing one. After previous assurances by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories that authorization was forthcoming, in July, Interior Minister Eli Yishai said he would not approve the request.
Ya'akov Imut, in charge of weapons registration at the Interior Ministry, said the ministry turned down the request because it is authorized only to license handguns. Only last week, after pressure from the UN, was the request approved.
The COGAT office said "the delay was because UNRWA received authorization from the Germans only five months ago."
UNRWA's representative in Israel said it does not issue responses on security matters.
I would never have agreed to give them these weapons. If the people he's supposed to be helping are threatening his life, then Ging should leave and leave them to rot.
Labels: Hamas threats, John Ging, submachine guns, UNRWA
Two top UNRWA officials have resigned their positions and will be heading back to North America.
