OPINION:
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has exacerbated rather than helped the problems of refugees who still languish in squalid camps after 70 years (“The faded Palestinian issue,” Web, Jan. 10).
In 1948, in defiance of international law, local Arab militias and the armies of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Transjordan attacked Israel. It was a war not for a tiny piece of land, nor to create another Arab state, but one clearly defined as genocide. In consequence, 700,000 Palestinian Arabs and 10,000 Palestinian Jews were displaced. In subsequent years, another 900,000 Jews were forced out of their homes in Arab lands and Iran.
The Arab refugees and their descendants claim to now number 6.5 million, with 3.8 million registered to receive aid. Shame on the Palestinian Authority, the Arab League, the United Nations and the 30,000 members of UNRWA. UNRWA takes in $1 billion from its 15 top donors, with America contributing $380 million. Other governmental and non-governmental agencies also fund the PA. What have they to show for it?
The refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank are Arab-controlled. Between the PA and Hamas’ incompetence and corruption, they have little interest in the refugees, though they have funds enough to pay terrorists to kill Jews and Americans.
So long as the United States funds them, the Palestinians have no incentive to make peace with Israel or to take responsibility for running their own affairs.
LEN BENNETT
Deerfield Beach, Fla.
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