Of course the budget of UNRWA cannot keep pace with the "growing refugee population" - because UNRWA refuses to come up with a definition of "refugee" that is remotely in sync with the rest of the world.Refugees continued to protest UNRWA cuts in West Bank camps on Thursday, burning tires and forcing staff from their offices.
Demonstrators shut down the UN agency's offices across the West Bank for the second day in protest over the dismissal of 130 employees and cuts to services.
In Bethlehem, dozens of protesters forced staff from the UNRWA center and burned tires, carrying signs condemning the decision to fire workers.
Sameer Attallah, popular committee member in Aida camp, said demonstrations sent a message to UNRWA's administration and that protests would escalate. He said the cuts were the first stage in withdrawing services to Palestinian refugees.
UNRWA is heavily dependent on voluntary contributions, which it says have not kept pace with the increasing needs of a growing refugee population.
As I have shown, far less than 1% of those receiving free UNRWA services are true "refugees." And even if you include descendants of refugees in your definition, only about 20% of those receiving UNRWA services are deserving (the remainder are either Jordanian citizens or already live in "Palestine.")
But as this article shows, UNRWA is not the only party to blame. The "refugees" themselves in the camps that scandalously remain operational even within Areas A and B - under PA rule and in Gaza under Hamas - are not interested in becoming productive citizens of their own communities, but instead they demand more and more free services. These hypocrites close down the very UNRWA offices that they demand services from and deny those very same services to their neighbors.
They have been raised in UNRWA schools to learn that violence is the only way to get anything accomplished.
Instead of the UN looking at ways to slowly eliminate the "refugee" problem, countries continue to enable it. Only this week millions were donated to UNRWA from Japan, Malaysia. and Switzerland. And no one has the guts to say that this is not a sustainable model. The UN shoudl create a plan to close the "refugee" camps and integrate the residents into their host countries, with UNRWA funds being given directly to governments to offset the cost of integration over the next decade.
It will never happen, though, because these people are being kept in misery for one single reason: to continuously blame Israel.