Seth J. Frantzman
Jerusalem Post, Oct. 29, 2024
“IT’S WORTH thinking of UNRWA not as the organization it was after its founding, when it provided essential services that were actually needed, but rather as the empire of perpetual suffering that it has become.”
In the wake of Israel passing two bills that essentially block the activity of the UN Relief and Works Agency in areas under Israeli control, UNRWA’s work is under scrutiny. Many circles worldwide have condemned Israel’s actions. UNRWA is a “lifeline,” the UK says. UNRWA has claimed Israel’s vote is against the UN “charter.” The organization is “irreplaceable,” the head of the World Health Organization said on Monday.
What is most interesting about UNRWA is that the organization exists at all. Established by a UN General Assembly resolution in 1949, it began its work in 1950 toward providing direct relief and work programs for “Palestine refugees” – meaning, at the time, the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who had fled the fighting in British Mandate Palestine and, later, areas that became part of the State of Israel in 1948.
Many ended up in what is now Gaza and the West Bank, as well as Jordan, Lebanon, and other countries in the region. This was a major crisis at the time because there was nowhere to house these people in areas that were already poor and rural, such as Gaza, the West Bank, and the Kingdom of Jordan.
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