Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: unrwa

Showing posts with label unrwa. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 03, 2023

UNRWA camps, funded by the world, are the epicenter of terror. Anyone see a problem there?

At the State Department briefing yesterday, a reporter I don't recognize asked a question:

In light of UNRWA donors’ – that’s a UN agency – recent meetings at the UN, will the U.S. ask the UN to inspect and disarm UNRWA refugee camps that have become well-equipped arsenals? And I have a follow-up question.

The question and answer were a bit muddled, but it brings up a point that is rarely mentioned in the media.

All of the major Palestinian militias that have emerged over the past two years came from UNRWA "refugee" camps.

The IDF has not had to invade Jenin -but the Jenin camp. Not Nablus - but the Balata camp. Not Tulkarem - but the Nur Shams camp.

And in Lebanon, many have been killed from infighting in the Ein al-Hilweh camp.

UNRWA is not responsible for security in the camps. But the bigger question is, why do these camps exist to begin with?

There are no longer refugee camps in India and Pakistan from 14 million refugees in the 1940s. The displaced persons camps in Europe for the tens of millions of World War II refugees were closed in the 1950s.

Why do the 600,000 Palestinian refugees from 1948 still have camps?

And especially in areas under Palestinian control, why are there camps at all? It's been nearly 30 years since Oslo and Palestinian self-rule - why do they keep the camps instead of treating their own citizens equally?

Palestinians claim that they want to live in dignity. Where is the dignity of living in a cramped, crowded area ruled by masked terrorists who plant IEDs on every street corner?

Why aren't the Palestinians in the Jenin camp all moved to live in dignity in the rest of Jenin?

These camps, ostensibly to help Palestinians, end up prolonging Palestinian suffering. And what the media refuses to report is that this is a feature, not a bug. The camps provide the media with photo-ops to show Palestinian suffering - and blaming Israel for it, without the cameras widening their views beyond the two square miles of these real open-air prisons.

Here is what Jenin looks like outside the camp. It sure doesn't look like the Jenin we see in the media.

If you care about Palestinians, you should want to see these camps dismantled. If you care more about destroying Israel than helping Palestinians, then you want the camps to stay exactly where they are, forever, to provide a never-ending supply of angry young men to be the next generation of terrorists.

And not one nation on Earth is publicly demanding the first option.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

King Abdullah's speech to the UN is a study in hypocrisy and lies

Yesterday, Jordan's King Abdullah addressed the UN General Assembly with polished English and breathtaking hypocrisy.

Harking back to the long-debunked "linkage" theory, Abdullah claimed, "The Palestinian-Israeli conflict [is] the central issue in the Middle East."

This is right after he spoke about Syria, and the 1.3 million Syrian refugees that Jordan hosts!

As has been the case for decades, Arab leaders cannot resist using the Palestinian issue as a means to distract their people from their own shortcomings. Whipping up hatred against Jews means less hatred towards their own leaders.

Five million Palestinians live under occupation—no civil rights; no freedom of mobility; no say in their lives.

About 2.3 million people cross between the West Bank and Jordan through the Allenby crossing every year - most of them Palestinians. Does that sound like they have no freedom of mobility?

Some 90% of Palestinians live under Palestinian civil governance and laws. If they have no civil rights or say in their lives, how exactly is that Israel's fault?

Moreover, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Jordan who moved there from Gaza in 1967 have no civil rights or path to citizenship - so who exactly is curtailing the rights of those Palestinians?

And delaying justice and peace has brought endless cycles of violence—2023 has been the deadliest for the Palestinian people in the past 15 years.

No, it hasn't: it has been the deadliest in the West Bank. And nearly all of those killed have been armed terrorists or active fighters, whom Abdullah pretends are innocent civilians.

The past 18 months have been the deadliest in Israel in many years as well - where is the justice for Jews?

Jerusalem is a flash point for global concern. Under the Hashemite Custodianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites, Jordan remains committed to safeguarding the city’s identity.

First of all, Jordan has no custodianship over Christian holy sites. The original (verbal) agreement between the Supreme Muslim Council and the Hashemites was only concerning Al Aqsa. The 1994 Jordan-Israel peace agreement says "Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem." Abdullah is lying.

Secondly, when he says Jordan wants to safeguard Jerusalem's identity, by specifying "Islamic and Christian," he means a Jerusalem that has no Jewish history.

But preserving Jerusalem, as the city of faith and peace for Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, is a responsibility that we all share.

Except that under Jordanian rule, no Jews of any nationality were allowed to visit the Old City. Jordan regularly condemns Jews peacefully touring the Temple Mount. Abdullah supports a Jerusalem where Jews are, at best, tolerated but have no rights. If he cared about preserving Jerusalem for all religions, he would support Israeli sovereignty - since it is only under Jewish rule that Jerusalem has ever been truly open to all.

And we must not abandon Palestinian refugees to the forces of despair. Sustainable funding is urgently needed by UNRWA, the UN agency that provides vital relief, education, and health services to millions of Palestinian refugees. This is essential to protect families, keep communities stable, and prepare young people for productive lives.

Jordan itself gave a mere $4 million to UNRWA in 2022 - much less than the $7 million it gave in 2021. And so far it has only pledged $2 million in 2023. Abdullah is not exactly walking the walk.

But there is a lot of cynicism here: Jordan's economy benefits greatly from UNRWA. Even though UNRWA has no business giving aid to most of its "refugees" in Jordan who are full Jordanian citizens, it spends over $150 million a year in Jordan alone. Abdullah is appealing for UNRWA because that money is money he saves in providing basic services to nearly 2 million of his own citizens.

He pretends his appeal to UNRWA benefits Palestinians, but in reality UNRWA saves Jordan hundreds of millions of dollars, and it injects a great deal of cash into Jordan's economy on the world's dime.

The hypocrisy does not end there. In his speech, Abdullah speaks about "justice" and about how he is against "the black flags of terror, hate, and extremism." Yet even today, Jordan is zealously protecting terrorist Ahlam Tamimi - an unrepentant, proud monster responsible for the murder of 16 civilians including 7 children at a pizza shop in Jerusalem - from being extradited to the US to face justice.

Abdullah doesn't support justice. On the contrary, he supports a celebrity terrorist walking around freely in his kingdom.

Western media and politicians love King Abdullah. He is young, articulate, and smooth. He says all the right things and is considered a "moderate." So no one bothers to fact-check his speeches and analyze his actions. But in just this short address on the biggest stage on Earth, Abdullah has proven himself yet again to be a hypocrite and a liar.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Video of UNRWA students extolling murdering Jews and seeking martyrdom

This is what is being taught in UNRWA schools.

UNRWA keeps denying it. And it keeps getting caught.

Askar - UNRWA: Cradle of Killers

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

UNRWA begs Arab leaders to make Palestinians their top political priority, just like the good old days

Not too long ago, the West was convinced that there was "linkage" between the Palestinian issue and everything else in the Middle East. The only reason that they thought so was because Arab leaders kept insisting it was so; they used the Palestinian issue as a means to distract their own people from their own human rights issues.

It turned into a convenient myth for Palestinians as well, because they would routinely threaten the West saying that if they don't get their way, the entire region would explode in Arab fury. Only Israel giving in to Palestinian demands would bring peace to the entire region.

After the Abraham Accords destroyed the "linkage" myth, people who were invested in the myth kept pretending it was true. So instead of welcoming peace between Israel and Arab states, they complained that the Palestinian issue was not resolved - and of course Israel was to blame.

UNRWA's chief Philippe Lazzarini spoke at a ministerial meeting of the League of Arab States this week. Besides begging for funds, he also said that he wants the Arab states to put the Palestinian issue back as their top priority, just like they pretended to in the good old days of "linkage."

The discussion today needs to be elevated from a financial to a political one, a discussion addressing Palestine refugees’ dignity and wellbeing and through it, the stability of the region and the quest for peace.

The League of Arab States and its members, especially those who host the refugees are key partners.

You are also our allies in our efforts to raise funds and ensure that global solidarity with Palestine Refugees remains strong.

I say this as Palestine Refugees have waited 75 years for a political solution.

They have always relied on the Arab world for solidarity.

They have no closer ally, no better partner.

This is UNRWA admitting that the Arab world no longer even gives much lip service to caring about Palestinians.

The reasons are well known: the Palestinians themselves cannot unify or hold elections, they have not done anything to promote peace, the Gulf states realized that Israel is a more reliable and profitable partner than the Palestinians are.

If Lazzarini really cared about Palestinian "dignity," which he emphasized, he would be asking the Arab states to naturalize Palestinians as citizens. He alluded to this issue in this sentence:

180,000 Palestine Refugees in Jordan, who fled from Syria or from Gaza in 1967 live in poverty and growing debt.

He is only counting the 180,000 Palestinians in Jordan who are not citizens - not the nearly 2 million who are.

So he knows the truth, that citizenship is the answer to the issue, and UNRWA has no business sending money to the Palestinian citizens of Jordan whose welfare is properly the responsibility of their kingdom.

He knows it - but he won't say it out loud because it is in his interests to keep UNRWA growing, not shrinking. To ask for more funds every year, not to cut services that the world should not be giving to people who aren't refugees by any definition.

Instead, UNRWA wants the world to keep pressure on Israel for a "return" that will never happen. And he needs Arab solidarity on that issue; after all, if the Arabs themselves no longer care, why should anyone else?

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

For Egypt, talk of supporting UNRWA is VERY cheap

From TeleSUR:

On Tuesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry underlined the urgent necessity to provide the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) with financial contributions in order to continue its services.

In a meeting with the UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini in Cairo, Shoukry stressed Egypt's willingness to support the agency, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

According to Shoukry, Egypt will continue to coordinate with international actors in order to give the agency the financial and political support it needs to offer essential services to Palestinian refugees.

Look at how strongly Egypt supports UNRWA!

Then look at UNRWA's list of governmental funders (for 2021, the latest I can find.)

Egypt gave UNRWA a total of $20,000 in aid.

That's less than $1700 every month.

That's far less than the average cost of a used car in the US this year.

Lots of Arab nations are very generous towards UNRWA - with their words.

With their pocketbooks, not so much.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

UNRWA didn't get $75 million from the US by today's deadline. Let's see if the dire predictions come true.

Khaled Elgindy senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, issues a dire warning at The Hill:

One wouldn’t know it from the headlines, but the next violent eruption in the Gaza Strip may be just around the corner. As most of Washington remains mired in its traditional August doldrums, yet another a potential crisis is brewing in the already isolated and impoverished Gaza Strip. For the past several months, $75 million in badly needed food assistance for Palestinians has been held up in Congress, not because of any bureaucratic or logistical impediments but for purely political reasons. Moreover, if the Biden administration does not act by the end of August, it will likely lead to a further deterioration in the already dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza — with potentially serious security implications for Jordan, Egypt and Israel.

The $75 million, approved by Congress and the State Department earlier this year, is being held up by Idaho Sen. James Risch, ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He wants assurances that the funds will not go to terror groups.

Let's look at this a little closer.

Here are the top national donors to UNRWA as of 2021:

Notice anything missing? Yes, the Arab nations are nowhere to be found, and in fact Arab nations provide only a tiny percentage of UNRWA's budget. The top Arab donor, Qatar, gives a mere 5% of what the USA gave in 2021.

The US already provides more aid to UNRWA than anyone else, over $300 million a year. Why is it obligated to give an additional $75 million, which is more than the entire Arab world combined gives to UNRWA? Where are the angry op-eds demanding that Saudi Arabia or China give tens of millions to UNRWA?

Is this all going to be "food aid"? While the original bill says the $75M was for "food assistance to vulnerable Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza" it cannot be earmarked; UNRWA will simply redirect other moneys to more problematic programs like their schools that teach the beauty of "martyrdom."

A little more context: People have been warning of starving Palestinians for many years now. In 2008 Jimmy Carter said that Gazans were literally "starving to death" and in 2009 he said they were "literally starving."

Nine million people die of starvation every year. Not one of them is Palestinian.

Interestingly, USAID will provide direct food aid - US food products - and food vouchers to countries where cash might go to terrorists. If there is such a looming food crisis, the US can contribute....food. This would also help US farmers and food producers, and it would be more difficult for Hamas to steal the food and resell it, as it does today with UNRWA products. (Obviously there are logistics involved to set up a direct food program, and it takes months to ramp a program like that up, but it could be done for next year.)

Here is the best part of Elgindy's article:

Despite appeals from the State Department, UNRWA and several Arab governments, Risch shows no sign of budging. “The administration has all the authority they need to provide emergency food assistance to UNRWA,” observed a spokesperson for the senator, adding that Risch “will continue to hold them until his long-term concern about UNRWA are addressed.”

On this, at least, Risch is correct. Biden does indeed have the authority he needs to disburse the funds over Risch’s objections. But this will require taking a stand and expending at least some political capital on an issue—the Palestinians—that has not been a political priority for the administration thus far.

So when a Republican holds up the aid, he is responsible for a looming escalating crisis that may lead to starvation, instability and war. But when Biden chooses not to override the senator, he is merely reluctant to expend political capital.

We are at September 1. Biden didn't override Risch. Let's see if the dire warnings come true.

The reality is that UNRWA is unsustainable as it stands right now. Its unique and bizarre definition of "Palestine refugee" ensures that it will need more funds every year forever. Clearly the world is sick of paying for this: in June a pledging conference for UNRWA netted a mere $107 million of the $300 million they wanted.

The solution is simple. Take 2 million Palestinians who are Jordanian citizens off the rolls. (Provide additional funding for the Kingdom of Jordan for a few years so that government can do its job and take responsibility for its own citizens' education, medical and housing needs.) That slashes UNRWA's budget by some 35%.

Later, do the same for Palestinians who live in the area of British Mandate Palestine, who are not "refugees" by any measure. They are the proper responsibility of the Palestinian Authority which provides schooling and medical services for its citizens - except for the "refugees," an absurd discrimination that the world doesn't seem to mind. That's about 40% more of its budget.

The Palestinians who are still in real need - the ones in Lebanon and Syria - really do deserve funding even though they aren't refugees either, but they have no government on their side. However, political pressure should be put on those countries to allow the Palestinians who have lived there for seven decades to become naturalized like any other Arabs can.

People who care about Palestinians should not object to any of these ideas. But, as we know, the world doesn't care about Palestinians unless they can be used as propaganda tools - "refugees" - to damage Israel.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Final BRICS statement shows how little the Palestinian issue matters even to their allies

The official Palestinian Wafa news agency reports:

The President of the Palestinian National Council, Ruhi Fattouh, welcomed today, Thursday, the final statement of the fifteenth BRICS summit, which was held in the Republic of South Africa.

Fattouh said that this position is a victory for the justice of the Palestinian cause, and an expression of standing with the Palestinian people in their defense of their legitimate national rights, condemnation and rejection of the fascist occupation and its criminal practices in the occupied territories, the orgy and crimes of settlers against Palestinian civilians, and their continuous violations.

The actual BRICS declaration issued at the end of this week's summit has 94 paragraphs. Only one paragraph is about the Middle East, and the Palestinian issue is not even in the top three issues it addresses:

17. We welcome the positive developments in the Middle East and the efforts by BRICS countries to support development, security and stability in the region. In this regard, we endorse the Joint Statement by the BRICS Deputy Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys for the Middle East and North Africa at their meeting of 26 April 2023. We welcome the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran and emphasize that deescalating tensions and managing differences through dialogue and diplomacy is key to peaceful coexistence in this strategically important region of the world. We reaffirm our support for Yemen’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, and commend the positive role of all the parties involved in bringing about a ceasefire and seeking a political solution to end the conflict. We call on all parties to engage in inclusive direct negotiations and to support the provision of humanitarian, relief and development assistance to the Yemeni people. We support all efforts conducive to a political and negotiated solution that respects Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity and the promotion of a lasting settlement to the Syrian crisis. We welcome the readmission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the League of Arab States. We express our deep concern at the dire humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories due to escalating violence under continued Israeli occupation and the expansion of illegal settlements. We call on the international community to support direct negotiations based on international law including relevant UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative, towards a two-state solution, leading to the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine. We commend the extensive work carried out by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and call for greater international support for UNRWA activities to alleviate the humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian situation is barely a footnote. Haiti gets its own paragraph.

This is a far cry from how things were ten years ago, when the Palestinian issue was consistently put forward in every non-aligned venue as being the pre-requisite to Middle Eastern peace and stability.

The Joint Statement by the BRICS Deputy Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys for the Middle East and North Africa referred to in the declaration had a more expansive section on the Palestinian issue, but it is remarkably even-handed:

8. They expressed their deep concern at the deteriorating situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a result of continued occupation and the expansion of settlements. They noted with concern that there is neither a proposal being currently discussed for a permanent solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict nor any perspective of resuming negotiations in the foreseeable future. They shared the view that the mere “management of the conflict” does not constitute an acceptable way forward towards peace and stability in the Middle East. They also acknowledged with great regret the current escalation of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, which underscores the pressing need to advance towards a politically just and lasting solution for the conflict. They stressed that the question of Palestine must be resolved through direct negotiations based on International Law. They reaffirmed the position that the two-state solution achieved through such direct negotiations without preconditions remains the internationally recognized basis for the peaceful resolution to the conflict. They reiterated their support for the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate rights including but not limited to their right to self-determination. They reaffirmed their call for greater solidarity among all parties of Palestine to achieve internal reconciliation. They encouraged Palestine and Israel to resume peace talks based on a negotiated two-state solution. They called on the international community to intensify its efforts in support of UN-led effort with a view to achieving a comprehensive, lasting and just settlement that allows Israel and Palestine to live side by side in peace, security and stability while recognising the legitimate security needs of Israel and Palestine. They stressed that efforts should be made to leverage respective strengths, actively promote peace talks, and to help Palestine develop its economy, ease its humanitarian situation, and improve its people’s welfare. They commended the extensive work carried out by UNRWA to alleviate the humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people. They reiterated the call for the international community to provide developmental assistance to support UNRWA activities to increase its reach amongst the Palestinian community.

There is not a word here that could not have been expressed by the US State Department:

Almost certainly the Palestinians - who want to join BRICS - lobbied for a much stronger anti-Israel statement, using the language of :"apartheid" and "racism." That verbiage is now common in the UN. Yet even in venues where the US and Western democracies are absent, BRICS is almost completely in alignment with the West in their stated position towards the conflict.

The Palestinians might be publicly calling this a victory, but these statements are not at all what they wanted to see.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Terrorist groups have now seized eight UNRWA schools in Lebanon

From Naharnet:

An explosion was heard at dawn inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh in the southern city of Sidon, the state-run National News Agency said.

The explosion resulted from “a hand grenade that was hurled near a school belonging to the UNRWA agency in the camp’s al-Fawqani street,” NNA said, adding that the incident caused no casualties.

UNRWA had reported Saturday that another school compound was taken over by armed groups in the camp.

“This brings the total number of schools taken over by armed groups in the camp to eight, risking the start of the school year in time for 5,900 children,” UNRWA warned.

“We are getting credible reports of severe damage to the school buildings and looting of children’s education material and equipment from the schools,” it said.

The Lebanese camp of Ein el-Hilweh gets worse and worse, but since there is no actual shooting and Israel can't be blamed, no one cares too much.

Just like you almost never read about the concrete wall surrounding the camp since 2017.

Yes, Lebanon really keeps Palestinians in an open-air prison. Banksy doesn't seem to care too much.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Recent EoZ memes, posters, cartoons....

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

How many American citizens receive UNRWA benefits?

Haaretz writes:

More than 12,000 Palestinians with American citizenship residing in the West Bank have entered Israel in the past few weeks, since Israel was forced to ease travel restrictions for them in order to be accepted into the United States visa waiver program.

The estimate was provided by Israeli defense sources who believe that the number of Palestinians in the West Bank with American citizenship is in the tens of thousands.

The article goes on to say that there are also hundreds of American citizens living in Gaza.

This is far more US citizens living in the territories than I was aware of. With that number, it seems like many of them are living a regular Palestinian citizens with American passports, meaning that they receive the benefits of Palestinian citizenship - for example, medical benefits and public schools.

It is also a surprisingly high percentage of Palestinian Americans - perhaps as many as one in five Palestinian Americans live in the territories and not in the US.

But how many of them are considered "registered UNRWA refugees" and are receiving UNRWA benefits? How many live in UNRWA camps in the West Bank and Gaza? How many go to UNRWA schools and receive UNRWA medical benefits?

How many American citizens are considered "refugees" to UNRWA?

It could be that there is a whole other category of fake "refugees" that UNRWA provides benefits for - citizens of other countries (besides Jordan)!

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Ein al-Hilweh camp: Terrorists still control schools, 200-400 homes destroyed - and human rights groups silent

On Friday, UNRWA issued a situation report on the Lebanese Ein el-Hilweh camp where there had been fierce fighting at the start of the month.

While the media has largely lost interest as the cease fire took hold, the camp is still largely controlled by terror groups:

Reports indicate that armed fighters are allegedly still deployed in some areas and continue to be intermittently present in UNRWA schools in the northern schools compound, along with the nearby UNRWA camp services office – a serious violation of the neutrality of UNRWA installations. The reported presence of fighters in areas around the school compound has prevented UNRWA staff from accessing these installations. Reports indicate that the ongoing presence of armed fighters in some areas is also preventing the return of some residents to their homes.

At a Thursday press conference, Director of UNRWA affairs in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus added more information, saying that between 200-400 houses were completely destroyed. A UNRWA school complex for over 3,000 children had been “violated" and other schools and a health center were also damaged.

She noted that “it is s not safe for any UN personnel to access (some) areas currently, we’re also not having clearance from the Lebanese military to go inside those areas on the Lebanese military being in control of access to the Ein El-Hilweh camp.”

Far more houses were destroyed by the fighters in Ein el Hilweh than were destroyed by Israel in Gaza in May - but unlike for Gaza, there are no news articles about these destroyed homes with interviews of distraught homeless Palestinians.

Amnesty has not issued a single press release about the fighting and damage. Neither has Human Rights Watch.

If they cared so much about the welfare of Palestinians, then why haven't they condemned the fighting and ongoing militant control of large swaths of the camp?

This is again more proof that human rights is not what drives obsessive NGO and media coverage of Israeli actions, but old fashioned antisemitism.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Here's an interesting coincidence.

The UN in 1994:

An estimate made by Abu Lughod indicated that the average number of indigenous Palestinians was about 420,000 in the West Bank and about 80,000 in the Gaza Strip by the end of 1948.

News wires, March 2004:

Schools and virtually every shop were closed in this city {Gaza City], where 420,000 people live.

Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, 2007:

Estimates of IDPs in Israel vary widely. There is no government or United Nations estimate. Sources for estimates are accademics, Palestinian NGOs and Israeli papers. The lowest estimate is 150,000 and the highest is 420,000, which includes the children and grandchildren of Arab villagers displaced in 1948, as well as Bedouin communities displaced later on.

Human Rights Watch, 2010:

Israel’s differential treatment in law, regulations, and administrative practice directly affect the roughly 490,000 Jewish settlers and 420,000 Palestinians in areas under its exclusive control in the West Bank (including in Area C and East Jerusalem).

Daily Sabah, 2018:

The 420,000 Palestinians who currently reside in East Jerusalem possess permanent residency ID cards and are treated as foreign immigrants by the Israeli government. (The article predicted that Israel would take away the residency permits of all those Palestinians, a prediction that, like all of them, never came close to being true.)

Eurasia Review, 2018, headline:

What’s Behind The ‘Disappearance’ Of 420,000 Palestinians In Lebanon?

WASH Cluster, State of Palestine, 2020:

WEST BANK: 482,509 of people suffering limited access to water; 420,000 persons consume less than 50 l/c/d.

OpenDemocracy, April 2020:

Palestinians in East Jerusalem: living under a deadly virus and a violent occupation: "There is inescapable and particular on-going acute anxiety about the future of these 420,000 Palestinians."

World Food Programme, August 2020:

In support of the MoSD’s response plan, which estimated that 70,000 families (420,000 people) have been affected by the spike in COVID-19 in Gaza...

UNRWA, 2021:

UNRWA is a lifeline to nearly 420,000 of the most vulnerable Palestine refugees in Syria.

Jeff Halper in Arena, June 2021:

Of the 150,000 Palestinians who remained in the country, the war displaced 30,000 to 40,000. Not allowed to return to their homes (which were either demolished or turned over to Jewish Israelis) and wanting to remain sumud (steadfast) near their lands, this population of internally displaced Palestinians has today grown to 420,000.

Middle East Monitor, July 2022:

The Nakba resulted in 750,000 Palestinians being driven from their homes; the 1967 Naksa saw another 420,000 forced to leave.

Al Jazeera, October 2022:

Since the attack, Israeli forces have imposed a continuing blockade on the area around Nablus, restricting the movement of about 420,000 Palestinians, including patients, elderly people and children, who must wait for hours before being able to cross.

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, July 2023: (Video, 2:04:33)

“This year, actually over, since the beginning of my mandate [May 1, 2022], I have borne witness to a series of deeply distressing events. 420,000 Palestinians, including 91 children, and 56 Israelis, including five children, have been killed. ”

(She later walked this back, saying the number was 426.)

That's 14 separate times, in different contexts, that "expert" quoted a figure of 420,000 Palestinians.

I am not saying this is a conspiracy or anything like that. It is just a very strange coincidence for that number to pop up in such disparate ways.

420,000 seems like a more realistic, solid estimate than "400,000" or "450,000."

(h/t Irene)

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

What would a Palestinian state look like? Look at Ain el-Hilweh, Lebanon

From Naharnet on Sunday:

Clashes renewed Sunday in the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon between the secular Fatah Movement and hardline Islamist groups.

TV networks said the fighting resumed after a senior Fatah commander was killed in an ambush.

An Islamist had been killed and six people including children had been injured in overnight clashes in the camp.

Key Sidon highways were closed to traffic on Sunday as stray bullets and shells landed in various areas of the major southern Lebanese city.

Clashes between rival groups are common in Ain al-Helweh, which is home to more than 54,000 registered Palestinian refugees who have been joined in recent years by thousands of Palestinians fleeing the conflict in Syria.

By long-standing convention, the Lebanese Army does not enter Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, leaving the factions themselves to handle security.

That has created lawless areas in many camps, and Ain al-Helweh has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives.

The Palestinian Authority and its sycophants claim that they would take care of law and order, but Israel's raids of Palestinian areas makes the PA security forces look weak and they lose respect of the populace, which is what cause many armed militias to arrive on the scene to fill the vacuum. If only Israel would leave Area A alone, the claim goes, the Palestinian Authority would be able to enforce law and order.

Ain el-Hilweh is a social experiment that proves this thesis false.

Lebanese troops do not enter. All security is provided by Palestinians. This is the situation that Palestinians want to see in PA-controlled areas - no outsiders, and security provided exclusively by Palestinians.

The result? They cannot govern themselves effectively. They cannot live in peace with each other. They regularly endanger their own people. Two UNRWA schools were damaged and children have been injured in the fighting;UNRWA is suspending all services and operations so the people will suffer even more.

This is how Palestinians treat each other without any outside interference.

And they cannot use the excuse of being in dire straits - which they are - because that should make a people want to work together even more, not use deadly force on each other.

If you want to see what a Palestinian state would look like, look at Ain el-Hilweh.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Arab support for UNRWA is down 90%

UNRWA media advisor Adnan Abu Hasna warned of the possibility of UNRWA being forced to stop services in September with its budget projected to run out by that time. It wouldn't be able to pay salaries or other expenses.

UNRWA has a financial deficit this year of about $200 million.

Abu Hasna noted that the support provided to UNRWA by Arab nations was $200 million in 2018, but it has evaporated to only $20 million dollars last year, a 90 percent reduction.

I counted about $50 million in pledges from Arab countries last year, so I'm not sure if they simply didn't pay their pledges or these are pledges for 2023 payments.

Either way, the amount of aid to UNRWA from the Arab states is ridiculously low compared to the amount that the West provides - Canada itself gives $20 million a year, and individual EU states gives tens of millions on top of the $100 million from the EU itself.

Apparently, appealing to Arab pride to increase their donations is not effective.

Why, exactly, does the West provide so much more for Palestinian "refugees" than the Arab world. especially the wealthy Gulf countries? And why don't the Palestinians themselves make a bigger deal over being shortchanged by their supposed "brethren?"

If the Arab world itself doesn't care about their own, why should the West?

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

UNRWA spreads bogus statistics to other NGOs

This is a strange one.

The Development Initiatives website used to have very extensive statistics on aid given, both from donors and to which recipients. But its latest report only discusses the top ten recipients, and this year the Palestinians are not listed among the top ten - they had been at or near the top from the early 2000s to at least 2015.

But it does mention the Palestinians in a different context.

In "Figure 2.6: The numbers of forcibly displaced people across the globe increased by almost 20% between 2021 and 2022, to more than 100 million people," it gives numbers of "forcibly displaced" people in "Palestine" for 2021 and 2022:

It says that the number of "forcibly displaced" Palestinians in the territories increased from 2.4 million to 2.9 million in only one year.

The footnotes say that it got these statistics from UNRWA: "Data is organised according to UNHCR's definitions of country/territory of asylum. According to data provided by UNRWA, registered Palestine refugees are included as refugees for Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. UNHCR data represents 2022 mid-year figures, and UNRWA data for 2022 is based on internal estimates."

First of all, it is absurd to say that the number of UNRWA registered refugees in the West Bank and Gaza increased by 21% in one year. There was no new influx of refugees to the territories and natural growth increase is nowhere near that number.

Secondly, to call people who pretend to be "refugees from Palestine" but who live in Palestine "refugees," and not even "internally displaced persons." is equally absurd.

Thirdly, UNRWA themselves publishes these statistics, so there was no reason for UNRWA to provide an "estimate" for 2022. According to them, in the fourth quarter of 2021 there were 2,400,208 "registered refugees" in the territories, in the fourth quarter of 2022 there were 2,454,903. That is an increase of 2%, not 20%.

It is possible that someone made a mistake - if a decimal point moved from an increase of 50,000 to 500,000, that would explain this discrepancy. But still, this is something that should have been checked.

One other interesting anomaly: according to this chart, a small but not insignificant number of "refugees" are seeking asylum in the Palestinian territories themselves. Where are they from? They couldn't be Palestinian - are they Africans who managed to make it to Gaza or the West Bank? The Palestinian Basic Law does not have any section about asylum seekers, and gives only a general statement about citizenship being regulated by law.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!