The UN agency swallowed the lie that they prefer statelessness - and misery - to security.
In reality, every time they had the opportunity to become citizens, in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, they took advantage of it. But for their leaders, keeping them in camps was ideal, because photographs of the poor refugees were felt to help the cause, causing world sympathy to Palestinians and anger towards Israelis who are blamed for their problems.
Sound familiar?
The idea that Palestinian Arabs prefer misery in camps to security has been an UNRWA theme - one that still exists.
In 2018, UNRWA hired a consultant to write a report about the pros and cons of switching aid to Gazans from direct provision of food and medicine into a cash-based system, where UNRWA would directly pay Gazans - either in dollars, in vouchers or electronically - and they could decide what they can buy.
The report noted that one drawback of paying cash was what they euphemistically called "leakages," meaning "misappropriation, fraud, corruption, double-counting and any irregularity considered as a diversion of cash grants or vouchers from legitimate uses. " As we've mentioned, part of these "leakages" comes from money changers in Gaza who are skimming money in their charges to give to Hamas. Presumably digital payments would fix that problem. Nevertheless, it mentions that giving cash directly to women would be problematic because Gaza men are sexist: "Programmes targeting women and youth, for instance, can lead to intra-household or intra-community violence. "
The use of CBA [cash based assistance] and more specifically the potential transitional period from in-kind to CBA was seen as risky for UNRWA staff safety. There are a lot of concerns among UNRWA staff, not only that their jobs become redundant, but equally for their safety if a shift of modality were to occur. Numerous mentions of “conspiracy” or “the use of cash is the beginning of the end of UNRWA assistance in Gaza” were made during the interviews conducted for this study. Interviewees, working with UNRWA largely feared that shifting from in-kind to CBA could be perceived as an obstacle to the beneficiaries right to return or as a way to make the dire situation of the Palestinian refugees less visible. “Refugees want to be seen queuing and carrying heavy bags of foods as a result of the blockade”.Cash would make their lives easier - they could choose to buy goods in markets when they need them, rather than waiting in lines to get huge bags of flour from UNRWA. But UNRWA workers claim that the people they pretend to help prefer to be seen waiting in these lines and carrying heavy bags of food - all to make Israel look bad during the "blockade'!
Public relations of making Palestinians look needier than they are has been the guiding principle for how to deal with them for 75 years. What was true in 1957 was true in 2018 and s true today - anything that makes Palestinians look like they have agency is silenced, and anything that makes them look helpless is highlighted.
Of course, things really are bad in Gaza now, because Hamas decided to turn the entire area into a huge shield for their underground tunnels. But the news coming out of Gaza is skewed towards making things sound even worse. That is the way things have been for Palestinian Arabs for 76 years, and everyone plays this game.
(h/t Irene)
