The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRA's) Hamas Partnership

 Nadene Goldfoot                                              

  Headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City, New York..  It was built on land bought from  William Zeckendorf, Sr.,  a real estate developer.  Zeckendorf was born to a Jewish family in Paris, Illinois, the son of a hardware store manager. His family moved to New York City when he was three years old.  

The United Nations (UN) was formally "born" on October 24, 1945, when the UN Charter entered into force after being signed by 50 countries in June of that year. This date, now celebrated as United Nations Day, marked the official establishment of the organization.  

Out of the 50 original countries,  7   were from Middle Eastern countries.  

Out of the 51 original member states of the United Nations (UN), seven were from the Middle East. The 50 countries present at the San Francisco conference plus Poland, which was added later, constitute the original member states.

 The purpose of the United Nations (UN) is to maintain international peace and security, foster friendly relations among nations, promote international cooperation on global challenges, and serve as a forum for harmonizing the actions of countries to achieve these common goals. Established after World War II, the UN works to prevent conflict, uphold international law, and address issues such as human rights, sustainable development, and humanitarian assistance. 

                                   The Jewish  right of return

The State of Israel was born on May 14, 1948. David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed its establishment on that date, marking the termination of the British Mandate of Palestine and the end of British rule in the region. 

Immediately, Israel found itself embroiled in a war, attacked by the 

Arab states, which 

is called 'The War of Independence" by Israel.  Egypt, Transjordan (Jordan), Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. were involved.   In the Arab world, it is known as al-Nakba, or "the Catastrophe.  Both Arabs and Jews had been promised land by the British who had held a 30 year mandate on Palestine on the same piece of land.  The British left and it seemed like 5 minutes later the attack on Israel and the Jews began.  So it's written that the war lasted from May 15, 1948 to July 20, 1949, a little more than a year. 

An estimated 6,373 Jews died in the 1948 War of Independence, nearly one percent of the total Jewish population in Palestine at the time. These casualties included approximately 4,000 soldiers and 2,000 civilians. 

• A high proportion of the population. At the time, the Jewish population in Palestine was only about 650,000. This meant the conflict caused an immense loss of life relative to the size of the community.  As an aside, Moses had taken a census count before and after the EXODUS.  He had started with 603,550 and Joshua ended with 601,730 Israelites (Jews).                                                  
• Our claim to Palestine is the Bible, (the Old Testament).  Judah was re-named Palestine in 135 by Romans.  Israel was created immediately.   Its LAW OF RETURN,  an ingathering of Jews all over the world, has and still is taking place;   to live in Israel, our refuge.  
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Today there are  193  countries who belong to the UN.  There are currently 193 countries that are members of the United Nations (UN). All member states have one vote in the UN General Assembly. The UN's membership has grown from its original 51 members in 1945 to the current 193 member states.  (That's an additional 142 states since its beginning.)  Source: Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC): The OIC has 57 member states. Of these, 56 are also UN members. It is noted that 51 of these OIC members are Muslim-majority countries.  The UN started with 7 states that were intolerant to Israel and ended with 56 out of the 193.                                         

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•                                   The creation of UNRWA

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  • A temporary solution: UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1949 to provide temporary relief to Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

  
  

  • Distinct from UNHCR: Just one year later, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was created to protect and resettle most other refugee populations worldwide. Palestinian refugees, however, remained under UNRWA, which is responsible only for humanitarian aid and services, not resettlement. 

  Perpetuating refugee status across generations

  The primary factor that extends Palestinian refugee status across generations is UNRWA's working definition of a refugee. 

  • The UNRWA definition includes not only the original refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods between 1946 and 1948 but also their male descendants.
  • As a result, the number of registered Palestinian refugees has grown from an initial 750,000 in 1950 to 5.9 million in the 2020s, despite the original refugees being elderly or deceased.
  • according to the UN figures which are never correct but outsized.  
  • Most refugee situations are eventually resolved through repatriation, resettlement, or local integration. The perpetuation of refugee status through descendants is largely unique to the Palestinian case.             

  Contested interpretation of Resolution 194: UN General Assembly Resolution 194 states that refugees "should" be permitted to return, but it does not declare a binding "right". Opponents argue that the non-binding nature of the resolution and the conditional language ("live at peace with their neighbors") give Israel discretion over implementation.

  • Retroactivity of international law: Some legal scholars argue that many of the international conventions that establish the right of return (such as the Fourth Geneva Convention) were established after the 1948 exodus and do not apply retroactively.
  • Precedent of population exchanges: After the 1948 war, hundreds of thousands of Jews were expelled from Arab countries and sought refuge in Israel. Some argue this constituted a de facto population exchange, a historical precedent seen in other post-war situations, such as between India and Pakistan.
  • Refugee status and compensation: Arguments also suggest that the descendants of original refugees do not retain refugee status in the same way under international law, especially if born in another country. Proponents of this view argue that international law supports compensation for lost property rather than repatriation.
  • Failed negotiations: The Palestinian right of return was a final status issue in the Oslo Accords. Israel has consistently offered compensation and the return of a very limited number of refugees on humanitarian grounds, but Palestinian negotiators, such as Yasser Arafat, have refused to permanently relinquish the full right of return. 

  • Israeli position: Israel has consistently refused the demand                                     
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•                        Holocaust survivors. Many of the Jewish casualties were refugees and Holocaust survivors who had recently arrived in the country.                 

•                                         UNRWA
• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 8, 1949, by General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV) to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestine refugees displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The agency began its operations on May 1, 1950, and continues to provide essential services in its five fields of operations: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza,      the longest refugee period ever remaining as such.  As UNRWA explains:                               

 The primary factor that extends Palestinian refugee status across generations is UNRWA's working definition of a refugee.  HAMSAS - GAZANS ARE PALESTINIANS.  

The UNRWA definition includes not only the original refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods between 1946 and 1948 but also their male descendants.

• As a result, the number of registered Palestinian refugees has grown from an initial 750,000 in 1950 to 5.9 million in the 2020s, despite the original refugees being elderly or deceased.
• Most refugee situations are eventually resolved through repatriation, resettlement, or local integration. The perpetuation of refugee status through descendants is largely unique to the Palestinian case.    

• 
  

The creation of UNRWA

• A temporary solution: UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1949 to provide temporary relief to Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
• Distinct from UNHCR: Just one year later, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was created to protect and resettle most other refugee populations worldwide. Palestinian refugees, however, remained under UNRWA, which is responsible only for humanitarian aid and services, not resettlement.

Reasons for the protracted situation

Several complex and often disputed factors contribute to why the Palestinian refugee situation has not been resolved. 

The right of return

• Palestinian position: Palestinians and their supporters cite UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (1948), which states that refugees "wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so". For Palestinians, the right of return is an inalienable right. (This is not a right for them).  
• Retroactivity of international law: Some legal scholars argue that many of the international conventions that establish the right of return (such as the Fourth Geneva Convention) were established after the 1948 exodus and do not apply retroactively.
• Precedent of population exchanges: After the 1948 war, hundreds of thousands of Jews were expelled from Arab countries and sought refuge in Israel. Some argue this constituted a de facto population exchange, a historical precedent seen in other post-war situations, such as between India and Pakistan.
• Refugee status and compensation: Arguments also suggest that the descendants of original refugees do not retain refugee status in the same way under international law, especially if born in another country. Proponents of this view argue that international law supports compensation for lost property rather than repatriation.
• Failed negotiations: The Palestinian right of return was a final status issue in the Oslo Accords. Israel has consistently offered compensation and the return of a very limited number of refugees on humanitarian grounds, but Palestinian negotiators, such as Yasser Arafat, have refused to permanently relinquish the full right of return. 

• Israeli position: Israel has consistently refused the demand for a mass return of refugees. This is primarily due to concerns that an influx of millions of Palestinians would compromise the country's Jewish majority, threaten security, and necessitate the displacement of Israeli citizens.
• Host country policies
• Refusal to grant citizenship: Many Arab states have refused to grant citizenship to Palestinian refugees, keeping them in a state of legal limbo. For example, Palestinians in Lebanon are denied citizenship and face numerous restrictions on employment, property ownership, and access to social services.
• Political considerations: Some critics argue that certain host countries and Palestinian leaders have discouraged integration to maintain the refugee issue as a political tool against Israel. 

Lack of a political solution

• Efforts toward a peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, such as the Oslo Accords, have stalled partly due to fundamental disagreements over the fate of the refugees.   Israel is the one and only Jewish state in the world compared  to about 50 other Muslim majority states in the world.  There is already a Palestine if you look at Jordan, which is made up mostly of former Palestinians!!!  Israel is a wee state and cannot change the ratio of 80% Jews to 20% Muslims or it would go the way of Lebanon.  Nor could the land absorb all those Muslims! that would drown out the Jews!  
• The broader international community has not enforced relevant UN resolutions, enabling the continued impasse. Impact of the definition    
•  UN REFUGEE AGENCY  vs  United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country.
• The distinction between UNRWA and UNHCR, and the inclusion of descendants in UNRWA's definition, is critical. Critics argue that UNRWA's mandate has helped perpetuate the crisis. Meanwhile, defenders of UNRWA argue that the agency provides a critical safety net in the absence of a political solution and that the international community and parties to the conflict have the responsibility to find a durable resolution.     Why is it that so many doors are open to Palestinian refugees in the UN while there is no door open for the Jews of Israel?                      

                                                        HAMAS

Hamas was founded in 1987 at the start of the first Palestinian intifada (uprising). Details of its formation:  Origin: Hamas began as an offshoot of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.  Founders: It was co-founded in Gaza by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian cleric and activist.  Initial goal: The group was formed with the intention of mobilizing support for armed resistance against Israel, as an alternative to the secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).  

The United States officially designated Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) on October 8, 1997. The designation was made by the U.S. Department of State after Hamas's armed element, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade, began conducting attacks against Israeli civilians. 

This designation has several legal and financial consequences: Asset freezes: The U.S. government has the authority to freeze any U.S.-based assets belonging to the organization.  Entry bans: Members of the group are barred from entering the United States.  Prohibition on support: It is unlawful for anyone subject to U.S. jurisdiction to provide "material support or resources" to the group.  Sanctions: Following the FTO designation, the U.S. government has also sanctioned Hamas-related charities and senior members. 

October 7, 2023:  Hamas and civilians from Gaza broke through the security fence and attackedmany Kibbutzim along the Gaza Strip in the most horrendous blood-thirsty killing any  people could imagine.   Hamas-led Palestinian militants launched a large-scale, coordinated attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. The surprise assault, which involved land, sea, and air infiltration, killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and resulted in the kidnapping of over 240 hostages that Israel has been negotiating with Hamas in trying to get back.  Now its thought that out of 20 still living, several of those may even be dead at this point in time.  

From this time on, UNRWA has unabashedly been on the side of the Hamas terrorists in a partnership of deception.  They have turned the tables on Israel, putting blame on them for it all while all the while protecting Hamas who is truly responsible for their own citizen's present position.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Zeckendorf