UNRWA Crisis

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766867
This is just one of many items that reported on the UN concern about UNRWA not being able to continue to offer its services to the Palestinian refugees due to lack of funds. So I was inspired to send this open letter to Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary general of the UN and to post it on my blog: Reflectionsfrompalestine.blogspot.com

Mr. Ban Ki-moon

UN Secretary General

New York

Dear Sir: 

May I remind you that when UNRWA was established in December 1949,  it was established as a temporary relief agency for the Palestinian refugees who,  in 1948, were driven out of their homes at gun point, or out of  fear for their lives, when the state of Israel was established on Palestinian land .

A year earlier, and in December 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 194 to allow all Palestinian refugees to go back to their homes.  The failure of the UN to implement that resolution, or insist on it before it accepted Israel as a member state, is the root cause of the crisis that UNRWA is facing at the moment. 

Year after year the UN dealt with the Palestinian refugees as a humanitarian problem, whereby  ignoring the implementation of  their political rights completely.  Had the UN lived up to its responsibility and enforced the 194 resolution, it would not have depleted its resources by providing handouts to those Palestinians whose property and land were taken from them by force.

Until a political solution to this grave injustice is implemented, and the refugees are allowed to go back to their land, and exercise their right to self-determination,  then the UN, the USA and its allies, who have vetoed every resolution in favor of the rights of the Palestinian refugees, should be fully responsible to finance UNRWA to continue its services.

Samia Nasir Khoury

Reflecting Once Again

 More Refugees

There were  very interesting documentaries  this week  from  BBC Arabic and Aljazeera English as well,  reporting about  the great number of refugees gathering in Calais trying to find a way to get to England by means of hiding in the trailers and even under the trailers lined up to cross the channel . One of the Syrian refugees said he was taking chances because he lost everything in Syria and he was trying to seek a dignified life for his family, other wise he might as well die.  A strong police force is controlling the area in which they are gathered, and the European governments are  taking measures so that they will not be flooded with refugees. 

The refugees were not only from Syria but from Iraq, Sudan and other countries that have suffered as a result of wars, and a lot of devastation and destruction has been inflicted on those countries.   Wars like the one in Iraq helped surface a new monster in the form of Daesh and the Islamic State, just like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were a product of the war in Afghanistan.   Now Daesh with its stretched tentacles has become  the nightmare of the region; thanks to Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair.    The meddling in Syria, Lybia, and other areas as well as the partition of Sudan are all factors that helped create this large population of refugees. 

We have already watched how many lost their lives while getting on boats that could get them to some safe shores of the Medeteranean .  It is high time that the UN live up to its responsibility and deal with the root causes of  the  problem of refugees, whereby all efforts are exerted to bring about stability in those torn countries so that people will be allowed to go back to their homes without fear.  It is probably easier said than done, but when there is a will there is a way.  However, the irony of it all is that Israel is claiming now that it is the safest place for the Christians of the region.  Of course The UN General Assembly resolution 194 to allow the Palestinians of 1948 to return to their homes in their usurped country,  upon which Israel was established,  has never been implemented.  And then we wonder why the world is in such a mess when power, money and the arms industry supersede all ethical values of human rights and justice.  

The Burning of a Child

Today all the news carried the incident of the burning of the  Palestinian child Ali Saad Dawabsh from Duma, in the Nablus area, by Israeli settlers.  Both his parents are in critical condition, and his brother was seriously injured.    For the first time Mr. Netanyahu  admits that this is an act of terror, and the perpetrators should be punished.  How ironic that Mr. Netanyahu should admit that, when he and his government have been shielding the settlers and encouraging the expansion of settlements.  It was only recently that 300 units were approved in the Beit El area in the West Bank.  In fact, the dispossession of the Palestinians and the occupation are acts of terror.  So is the evicting of  people,  demolishing of homes and confiscation of Palestinian land.  What about the ongoing raids on Palestinian property, farms and olive groves? Are those not acts of terror, and isn’t denying Palestinians living abroad from  entry to the country to visit their families an act of terror.  The harassment and interrogation that those young people face, is but one of the tools used by the Israeli Authority, to scare people away so that they will give up on trying to visit.

To allow Israel to get away with all this for decades was bound to provide fertile ground, and a free hand  for more terror, more dispossession and more victims of the ongoing brutality of the army-protected  settlers.  We continue to hold onto hope because our cause is a just cause, but the suffering is no more bearable.  Our young men languishing in Israeli jails without charges or trial are paying a high price for the sake of liberation and peace.  Will the day ever come in my life time? Inshallah,  God willing.