Attempting to mitigate the human tragedies of millions of displaced Europeans after World War II, a UN agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established, initiated in December 1949 by Resolution 319 of United Nations General Assembly and formed on 14 December 1950. The objective and mandate then (and still) is noble, humanitarian and non-political - "to provide international protection and to seek permanent solutions for refugees the world over".
However, after the Arabs were defeated in their 1949 war against Israel (five Arab armies attacking after the Jews accepted the UN offer of a homeland and created Israel - the Arabs refusing the same offer to the Palestinians), a special UN agency with unique provisions was created - just for the Palestinian Arabs. Rejecting UNHCR, the influential Arab League demanded and obtained a special UN agency (UNRWA) "United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East: UN Resolution 302 on 8 December, 1949, stating, "a relief and human development agency, providing education, health care, social services and emergency aid to 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
(Note: for 19 years after the 1949 war, Gaza was controlled by Egypt -despite having the same religion, language, background and culture, no Arab country would accept the Palestinians, forcing them to be wards of the United Nations.)
UNRWA is the only agency that is dedicated to a specific ethnic group of refugees (Palestinian Arabs) from a specific region or conflict. It is separate from - and much, much larger in funding, staff and political influence than UNHCR, although it oversees only a small fraction of UNHCR refugees. The unique criteria for UNRWA (clearly tailored to an Arab League political agenda), is that "beneficiaries had to have lived in the British Mandate Area of Palestine for at least two years before fleeing, and must have lost both home and livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab Israeli War, or be the descendant of someone who had." (No other refugees the world over can claim similar entitlements.) The UNRWA definition of eligibility -pointed out by critics - is that it serves only to perpetuate and aggravate Arab-Israeli friction (even non-refugee Palestinians may qualify for UNRWA benefits), its "rights of return for forever generations" indicates a hidden objective - to achieve by diplomacy and time what the Arab armies could not accomplish by war - the eventual replacement of a majority-Jewish Israel with another majority-Muslim state (the 57th). Clearly, UNRWA, in contrast to UNHCR, was clearly not set up to help Palestinians achieve happy lives, but to keep them as perpetual political pawns, a continual and increasing irritant, forever blocking a real peace with Jewish-Israel.
For UNHCR (non- Palestinians), World War II created a flood of refugees: in 1956 there were refugees from an uprising in Hungary; then Chinese refugees in Hong Kong; then Algerian refugees fleeing to Morocco and Tunisia; then large refugee movements in the 1960s, triggered by de-colonization of Africa. During the 1970s, the world's refugee growth continued, UNHCR operations being spread thinly around the globe: a mass exodus of East Pakistanis to India; then the Vietnam war with additional millions of fleeing refugees. The 1980s also saw new refugee challenges for UNHCR, aggravated by many newly independent states which openly rejected resettlement of their own people, fleeing inter-ethnic conflicts. The targeting of civilians by Islamic terrorists added significantly to displacements of minorities; local conflicts resulting in large numbers of refugees from Asia, Central America and Africa. The end of the Cold War also caused a marked increase in inter-ethnic conflicts as the monolithic USSR broke apart, causing a huge flood of fleeing displaced persons. More recently, the genocide in Rwanda resulted in a massive refugee crisis, again highlighting the difficulties for the relatively small UNHCR staff - especially as many "rich" nations erected restrictive asylum barriers. Thus, the mandate of UNHCR (all other refugees) has continually strained its small staff to provide humanitarian aid to "internally displaced persons" (IDPs). In summary, UNHCR presently has major missions in South Sudan, Chad, Lebanon, Darfur, Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kenya - but employs a staff of only about 6,300 people, spread over more than 110 countries (averaging 57 per country).
In contrast, UNRWA, concerned only about Palestinians, provides massive funds for but a tiny fraction of UNHCR's refugee total, but dominates the entire UN sphere of influence in staff size, funding and politics. Initially defined in 1949 as responsible for only "400,000 Palestinians fleeing Arab-Israeli wars", UN records show significant growth (due to the "descendant, right-of-return" clause): in 2004 to "4,000,000 qualified Palestine refugees", the present number is over 4.5 million, an eleven-fold increase. Thus the United Nations provides benefits in 59 refugee camps in Mid-East Arab countries. UNRWA was also responsible for displaced Palestinians in Israel following the 1948 war; however, in 1952, the Israeli government took over responsibility and costs.
Comparison, UN Agencies - Since its formation by the United Nations in 1950, UNHCR (non-Palestinians) reports it has helped an "estimated 50 million refugees restart their lives" - a 2007 UN document states that over 21 million refugees were under its mandate. (Note: the fact that the number of UNHCR refugees in 2007 had been reduced to less than half of the 50 million total aided, contrasts dramatically with UNRWA, where the number of Palestinian "refugees" increases every year, with every birth.) Despite the comparatively few refugees under its jurisdiction, UNRWA (Palestinians only) dominates the UN as its largest agency, wielding enormous (anti-Israel) influence. Critics, including US Senators and Congressmen, have complained that the contrast in function and achievement - in light of the politicized staff and funding - makes it clear that UNRWA's objective can be only to steadily increase political pressure upon Israel - not to resettle the Palestinians into building meaningful lives, but to keep them as "poor, pitiable refugees" - to eventually set up the demographic demise of Israel and replacement by an Arab-Muslim-majority "Palestine". Such influence provides explanation to the dominant activity of the UN - seeming to be anti-Israel resolutions. Critics complain that UNRWA perpetuates Palestinian dependency upon the UN, indoctrinates anti-Israelism in Arab school-children by demonizing Jews and Israel, supports militancy by hiring known activists, and even helps fund known terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah. UNRWA operates the largest school system anywhere, employing more than 17,000 as teaching and support staff in 663 schools. With 99% of UNRWA's local staff being Palestinians, there is no dispute that its payroll must include members of terrorist organizations - also with admitted lax financial controls, it is known that money from Western governments are funneled to terrorist organizations, and even, unwittingly, for purchasing arms for Hamas and Hezbollah.
Recent official data of UNRWA vs UNHCR are as follows: staff sizes, UNRWA-29,000 (handling only 9% of UNHCR's refugee clientele - grown to 4.5 million Palestinians from the original 400,000), vs UNHCR, only 5600 despite it being Responsible for 21,018,589 world-wide refugees (January 2007, UNHCR report): eight million in Asia, five million in Africa, 4.7 million in Europe, 3 million in the Americas and Caribbean. Most interesting is the following UN ratio data - 4000 world-wide refugees per UNHCR staff member, compared to only 180 Palestinian refugees for UNRWA, The effects of the humanitarian objectives behind UNHCR versus the political agenda behind UNRWA - both 61 years ago - are becoming more and more consequential - for good and evil.
Aaron Kolom qualifies as a "rocket scientist" with over 50 years aerospace engineering: Stress Analyst to Chief of Structural Sciences on numerous military aircraft, to Corp. Director Structures and Materials, Asst. Chief Engineer Space Shuttle Program through first three flights (awarded NASA Public Service Medal), Rockwell International Corp.; Program Manager Concorde SST, VP Engineering TRE Corp.; Aerospace Consultant.
Aaron L. Kolom - from Brainwashed* and Miracles**
* The Perceived Mind-Set of the Secular Elite re Darwin Evolutionism!
** To Believe in Them - Have Faith - In Science and Logic!
Visit website at brainwashedandmiracles.com brainwashedandmiracles.com to learn a bit about Science vs the Bible, from conflict to confirmation.
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