{From the THE CENTER FOR NEAR EAST POLICY RESEARCH (CFNEPR) website}
There is a myth that the UN determines policies of the UNRWA, The United Nations Relief and Works Agency
FACT:
- UNRWA is a self-run authority, funded by donor nations, not by the UN, with no board of directors and no external audit.
- UNRWA has not helped to resettle one refugee in its 66 year history.
- UNRWA perpetuates misery of five million Palestinian Arab refugees, in “temporary” refugee camps since 1948.
- While UNRWA operates under the aegis of the UN, funds for UNRWA and directives for UNRWA policies stem from donor nations, whose consuls control the purse strings to UNRWA. However, donations given to UNRWA often wind up in the wrong hands.
CNEPR is a leading informed authority on UNRWA. Since 1988, CFNEPR has documented how humanitarian funds for UNRWA from Western taxpayers are misappropriated. This lack of transparency means that despite an annual on-going budget of US$1.2 billion, the average Palestinian has yet to receive the maximum benefit.
CFNEPR has earned a reputation for dispatching experts, who brief policy makers and legislators of donor nations concerning UNRWA policies. For example, the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa hasted a special session dedicated to UNRWA on October 20, 2014. CNEPR presented its latest studies on the Hamas takeover of the UNRWA school system, an analysis of the latest UNRWA school books (which do not conform to UNESCO guidelines), and our latest film, which portrays deliberate UNRWA-HAMAS collusion during 2014.
Entitled UNRWA GOES TO WAR, the new film can viewed at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaaslaZk6mw&feature=youtu.be
Center for Near East Policy Research investigations of UNRWA can be found at: http://www.cfnepr.com/205640/Articles%2Dand%2Dessays
The event in Ottawa had a profound impact. 20 politicians attended along with 12 civil servants, creating a vitally important step in creating a change in Canadian government policy regarding a more informed role concerning Canadian donations o UNRWA in the future. Canada, which chairs the RWG , the Refugee Working Group set up to coordinate assistance of all nations to Arab refugees, can take the lead to inform other nations about how best to work with UNRWA in a transparent manner.
Objective: Organize UNRWA policy briefings for leading donor nations.
Crucial policy changes include: 1. Audit of all funds which flow to UNRWA. 2. Introduce UNHCR standards to UNRWA, to encourage Arab refugee resettlement. 3. Cancel the current UNRWA curriculum, which invokes principles of Jihad, martyrdom and “right of return.” 4. Cease paramilitary training in UNRWA schools. 5. Dismiss UNRWA employees affiliated with Hamas.
Plan of Action
CNEPR will target key donor nations over the next six months. In each country, events will take place that will brief key policy makers, who would not otherwise have access to such core information from the Middle East. For example: –
1. Filming UNRWA during November, to document current lethal incitement which emanated from UNRWA schools whose staff are directly responsible for the fresh wave of terror attacks and rioting in the capital. Filmed on location in UNRWA This film will be systematically delivered to all nations that donate to UNRWA.
2. A briefing at the House of Commons at the British Parliament
3. A briefing at the Israeli Knesset, for donor nation consuls.
4. A briefing on UNRWA policies at the U.S. Congress, open to congressional staffers, media, and NGO’s.
Each briefing features:
• Screening of “UNRWA Goes to War” & a new UNRWA film shot during November.
• Comments from: Dr. Arnon Gross (UNRWA textbook reviewer), Lt. Col (res) Jonathan Ha Levi (who documents the terrorist takeover of UNRWA schools), and Bassam Eid, (Director, Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group).