ZFBoxcar

http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/story.asp?id=4801A96E-4573-46E3-9F1E-28AEA042F44A

Heres an article in the National Post by Daniel Pipes, whether you like him or hate him, his statistics are legitamite.

The UN's Palestinian refugee trap

Daniel Pipes
National Post


Thursday, August 21, 2003

Here's a puzzle: How do Palestinian refugees differ from the 20th century's 135 million other refugees?

Answer: In every other instance, the pain of dispossession, statelessness and poverty has diminished over time. Refugees eventually either resettled, returned home or died. Their children -- whether living in South Korea, Vietnam, Pakistan, Israel, Turkey, Germany or the United States -- then shed the refugee status and joined the mainstream.

Not so the Palestinians. For them, the refugee status continues from one generation to the next, creating an ever-larger pool of anguish and discontent.

Several factors explain this anomaly, but one key component -- of all things -- is the United Nations' bureaucratic structure. It contains two organizations focused on refugee affairs, each with its own definition of "refugee."

The UN High Commission for Refugees applies this term worldwide to someone who, "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted ... is outside the country of his nationality." Being outside the country of his nationality implies that descendants of refugees are not refugees. Cubans who flee the Castro regime are refugees, but not so their Florida-born children, who lack Cuban nationality. Afghans who flee their homeland are refugees, but not their Iranian-born children. And so on.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, an organization set up uniquely for Palestinian refugees in 1949, defines Palestinian refugees differently from all other refugees. They are persons who lived in Palestine "between June, 1946, and May, 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict." Especially important is that UNRWA extends the refugee status to "the descendants of persons who became refugees in 1948." It even considers the children of just one Palestinian refugee parent to be refugees.

The High Commission's definition causes refugee populations to vanish over time; UNRWA's causes them to expand without limit. Let's apply each definition to the Palestinian refugees of 1948, who by the UN's (inflated) statistics numbered 726,000. (Scholarly estimates of the number range between 420,000 and 539,000.)

The High Commission definition would restrict the refugee status to those of the 726,000 yet alive. According to a demographer, about 200,000 of those 1948 refugees remain living today.

UNRWA includes the refugees' children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as Palestinians who left their homes in 1967, all of whom add up to 4.25 million refugees.

The 200,000 refugees by the global definition make up less than 5% of the 4.25 million by the UNRWA definition. By international standards, the other 95% are not refugees at all. By falsely attaching a refugee status to these Palestinians who never fled anywhere, UNRWA condemns a creative and entrepreneurial people to lives of exclusion, self-pity and nihilism.

The policies of Arab governments then make things worse by keeping Palestinians locked in an amber-like refugee status. In Lebanon, for instance, the 400,000 stateless Palestinians are not allowed to attend public school, own property or even improve their housing stock.

It's high time to help these generations of non-refugees escape the refugee status so they can become citizens, assume self-responsibility and build for the future. Best for them would be for UNRWA to close its doors and the UN High Commission to absorb the dwindling number of true Palestinian refugees.

That will only happen if the U.S. government recognizes UNRWA's role in perpetuating Palestinian misery. In a misguided spirit of "deep commitment to the welfare of Palestinian refugees," Washington currently provides 40% of UNRWA's US$306-million annual budget; it should be zeroed out.

Fortunately, the U.S. Congress is waking up to this need. Chris Smith, a Republican on the House international relations committee, recently called for expanding the General Accounting Office's investigation into U.S. funding for UNRWA.

Tom Lantos, the ranking Democratic member on that same committee, goes further. Criticizing the "privileged and prolonged manner" of dealing with Palestinian refugees, he calls for shuttering UNRWA and transferring its responsibilities to the High Commission.

Other Western governments should join with Washington to solve the Palestinian refugee problem by withholding authorization for UNRWA when it next comes up for renewal in June, 2005. Now is the time to lay the groundwork to eliminate this malign institution, its mischievous definition and its monstrous works.

Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and author of Militant Islam Reaches America (W.W. Norton).

Ironduke

Excellent article. Dr. Pipes is an excellent writer and his essays are very enlightening. I don't understand why he gets so much flak, the man calls a spade a spade and I respect that. He may or may not be anti-Islamic, but there certainly is a need for writers like him, there is a need to stimulate discussion and ideas. Many Muslims take any criticism of their practices and beliefs as a direct personal insults. There is a need for them to take a look at their religion introspectively and examine their practices and beliefs.

One thing I don't understand is there is little, if any, outrage at the treatment of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Palestinian Arabs languishing in camps in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. What ever happened to Arab, and Muslim, brotherhood? Something I find funny is that Egypt and Jordan talk loudly about their "fellow" Arabs cause but refuse to take back the Gaza Strip and West Bank from Israel. Arab brotherhood indeed.

ZFBoxcar

There is no outrage because every time somebody brings it up, the response is something like this:

"This isnt about us, its about Israel".

Gio

Now, i remember where i recognize Daniel Pipes from! He also writes for capitalism magazine.

bigross86

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2DREZQ

AHA! I knew it! I'm a Norwegian Refugee!

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Ray

Palestine is an interesting situation. Are the Palestians refugees or are the Jews refugees? Whcih came first? The chicken or the egg?

bigross86

Depends how far back you wanna look?

Ray

Thats a good one bigross.

I am interested in knowing your comments on the BBC Hard Talk programme where Ben Ami the ex Foreign Minister was interviewed.

bigross86

Dunno, haven't seen it...

ZFBoxcar

ok, if you look as far back is possible (2000 years), Jews were the refugees. If you look to more modern times, aka before 1948, the Palestinians were the refugees. But their grandchildren are now 'refugees', their great grandchildren are 'refugees'. And the refugee camps that are so often refered to...you guest it, they arent refugee camps. They are cities. They have paved roads, permanent housing, schools (where they teach how evil Jews are), hospitals, etc.

Anon

"I don't understand why he gets so much flak, the man calls a spade a spade and I respect that."

That's exactly why he gets flak.

It's a no go to speak the truth anymore.

Praxus

Yah I read that too:-)

I also read http://www.aboutthewar.com

Daniel Pipes is awsome

Israel needs to wage all out war against Hamas, Hezzbollah, Islamic Jiahd, etc...

ChrisF202

Agreed, but that would require Israel go to war with Syria, Lebanon and Iran as they support those evil groups.

Praxus

Israel could take out Syria's military in no time and could easily engage these terrorist with F-16's Apaches, Artillery, etc...

Israel has 3,000 Tanks, 1000 peices of Artillery, 400,000 troops(including reserves), 250 F-16's, and like 24 F-15I's.