イスラエル／パレスチナ和平

By UNRWA's own definition, a camp is a plot of land placed at the disposal of UNRWA by a host government. It is definitely interesting that the places we visited are called camps. In fact the refugees live in houses and in many instances it is very hard to tell the villagers apart from the refugees. By the same token, UNRWA clinics are open both to the inhabitants of the village and to the refugees. According to the UNRWA official whom I accompanied, refugees could arrange permanent housing in at least some of the villages if they so desired.


The mere name of Jenin invokes powerful images and contexts, only some of which are truthful. Violence, destroyed buildings and rumors of mass murder... Despite the bullet holes clearly visible all around, the center was full of life. Shops and restaurants were open to the public - exactly like any other Middle Eastern city. Despite the TV cameras focusing on one quarter of the city, Jenin is actually a large city with many sections.


Interestingly, the UN officer told me that the United Nations has already received the funds to rebuild the destroyed buildings. The donor country would like to build modern streets with children's parks. The refugees won't accept that undoubtedly because nice houses would prevent the perpetuation of the miserable refugee myth. I asked and found out that Palestinians generally consider Jenin a special place because of the scope of resistance that was evidenced there against the Israeli soldiers. The heroic resistance they call it. It turns out that the myth about a massacre has been quietly forgotten.

In Jenin we also visited an UNRWA girls school. Pictures of shahids are often hung on the walls despite it being forbidden. UNRWA obviously uses its member states' tax money for financing these school. Anti-Israel, pro-terrorism propaganda should have no room in these schools. Yet, no maps have a state of Israel in them and the atmosphere is tainted with propaganda. School books and other items of the curriculum are not controlled by UNRWA and contain violent anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda. How can the UNRWA control the schools in a situation where few of its international workers speak Arabic and most local employees sympathize with the Palestinian agenda? Realizing how closely identified UNRWA is to the local population and its ideology, it is easy to conclude that indirectly, UNRWA is actually supporting terrorism.


It can be said that indirectly, UNRWA indeed supports terrorism and, in a similar fashion, perpetuates the myth of the unsettled refugee. The refugees could have been settled a long time ago with the aid of the Arab world and international community. The refugees have little incentive to accept any political solutions when the Arab countries (with the exception of Jordan) do not give them citizenship and UNRWA literally forces them to remain in the refugee camps. Whilst UNRWA has done some good work and many of its employees are motivated by humanitarian feelings, the time may have come to check the general agenda of the agency. Refugee settlement as soon as possible instead of continuous camp life should be the goal of the agency especially when taking into consideration the fact that the camps have become hotbeds of terrorism.
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