The UN has two organizations to help refugees. In 2011, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) served 15.4 million people plus another 12.8 million awaiting classification or without refugee status in 123 countries on a budget of $3.32 billion and a staff of 7,200. The same year, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA)
served 4.681 million people in 5 countries with a budget of $1.003.7 billion and a staff of 29,000.
The missions of both groups vary as well. UNHCR protects refugees and helps resolve their problem, usually by helping them resettle in new homes. UNWRA works to maintain the refugee status of refugees and their descendants for generations while encouraging them to believe that they can return to their previous homes.
(See: http://israelbehindthenews.com/library/pdfs/UNRWAchartcomparison.pdf) In specific detail, ROADBLOCK TO PEACE tells why UNWRA was created, how it has moved from its original purpose, and how it now serves to delay, if not prevent, a peaceful solution to the Israeli/Palestinian situation. In UNWRA camps, UNWRA employees and equipment are used to perform or cover up terrorist activities. Children are taught that their highest goal should be to hate Israel, and destroy it, becoming martyrs in the process. (Forty one of the men who are considered martyrs attended UN schools.) Their world maps do not show Israel. Their textbooks promote hatred.
David Bedein proposes that the countries funding UNWRA withhold that funding until UNWRA demonstrates accountability, comply with UN requirements to show how it uses its revenue, demonstrate good governance, and follow the same rules as those of other UN agencies. ROADBLOCK TO PEACE is a concise, documented presentation of why the Palestinians are so adamant in their refusal to make a permanent peace agreement with Israel.
The Palestinian people deserve to live in a realistic, productive present and future, not be stuck in the past. ( )