Palestinians see a conspiracy behind UNRWA budget woes

UNRWA has frozen and cut back some of its programs because Arab countries have not paid their pledges - but some Palestinians see a much more nefarious reason.

Political economic expert Dr. Adel Samara says that the reduction of services is "an international political conspiracy hatched in secret to liquidate the Palestinian cause."

He astutely notes that ""Arab and European countries have trillions of dollars," asking why they cannot spare more of their money for giving Palestinian Arabs and their descendants welfare for eternity.

He concludes that the real reason for the budget shortfall is a concerted effort by the entire world to eliminate the Palestinian cause issues such as the right of return and self-determination.

Ali Huweidi, writing for Middle East Monitor, insists that the UNRWA budget should come from the central UN budget, rather than from voluntary contributions from individual nations. This scheme reveals some interesting facts.

The regular UN budget for 2012-2013 was about $5 billion.  UNRWA's budget alone is about $2 billion. 

Which means that the UN couldn't possibly fund UNRWA for a month, let alone permanently.

It also means that UNRWA donors are paying 40% as much to keep the Palestinian Arab "refugee" issue artificially alive than they are to cover the UN's programs in the entire rest of the world.

Huweidi's idea to force nations to increase their UN payments by 40% would ensure the collapse of UNRWA - or of the UN.

Maybe it's not such a bad idea!