Israel to ask UN to close down UNRWA

Doomed from the start - and very welcome nonetheless:

Israel intends to ask the U.N. to close down the aid agency that assists Palestinian refugees living in Judea and Samaria, Gaza and Jerusalem, saying the organization poses an obstacle to any future peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians because of its distorted definition of the term "refugee."

The Israeli initiative, proposed by MK Einat Wilf (Independence), follows months of Palestinian efforts to obtain unilateral recognition of statehood at the U.N. and membership in several of its agencies. UNESCO (the U.N. Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) granted "Palestine" membership last month, prompting the U.S. to cut funding in accordance with a law requiring financial ties to be cut with any U.N. agency that affords the Palestinians membership. Israel also said it would freeze funding to UNESCO and announced plans to ramp up construction in Judea and Samaria as a punitive measure against the Palestinians.

Now Israel plans to pursue its own measure at the U.N. to shutter the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, in an effort spearheaded by Wilf. UNRWA is the only U.N. aid agency dedicated to helping refugees from a specific region or conflict, and is separate from the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees, which is dedicated to aiding all other refugees around the world.

Israel places the number of Palestinian refugees at 250,000, while UNRWA claims that there are close to 5 million Palestinian refugees. According to the agency, a Palestinian refugee is anyone who left his or her home in British Mandate Palestine between the years 1946 and 1948, and their descendants. This includes second-, third- and fourth-generation Palestinians whose ancestors lived in what is considered Israel today and who fled their homes during the 1948 War of Independence.

There is a broad consensus among Israeli politicians and the public that Israel cannot absorb all Palestinians refugees into its territory. As long as UNRWA exists, officials say, there will be disagreement about how many Palestinian refugees there are, and as a result there can also be no consensus on how many Palestinian refugees Israel will need to compensate if they cannot return.

Israeli officials have also said that the Palestinian Authority and other Arab countries have refused to settle the Palestinian refugees, which Jerusalem views as an unwillingness on the Palestinians' part to compromise to reach a final-status agreement and end the conflict.

UNRWA has not tried to actually help any refugees since the 1950s. Now they act just like Arab leaders in using them as pawns to stay in power. 

UNESCO Reprimands Israel Over Newspaper Cartoon

SWC OFFICIALS MEET WITH UNESCO DIRECTOR-GENERAL

Paris, UNESCO Headquarters - SWC Dean and Founder Rabbi Marvin Hier led a delegation that met with UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova where they discussed last week's vote granting full membership of 'Palestine' into UNESCO.  Rabbi Hier was joined by U.S Ambassador to UNESCODavid T. Killion and Simon Wiesenthal Center senior officials.

In the hour-long meeting, the Center’s delegation expressed its indigation at the vote endorsing ‘Palestinian’ membership into UNESCO. Rabbi Hier also protested the statement by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered to the United Nations General Assembly which recogznied only two religions in the Holy Land: Islam and Christianity. The statement effectively deleted Judaism from history and Director-General Bokova asked that her aide obtain the Abbas speech.

To counter this delegitimization of Israel and the Jewish people, Rabbi Hier proposed that UNESCO and the Wiesenthal Center co-sponsor an exhibit of the 3,500 year Jewish attachment to the Land of Israel to be launched at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters. The delegation also insisted that UNESCO is obligated to demand of the new member, ‘Palestine’, to hold to the regulations of UNESCO in excising anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial from its school texts and newspapers. As always, the Center will continue to monitor developments at UNESCO.

In the lead up to and following the vote admitting 'Palestine', Director-General Bokova received tens of thousands of petition protests from Simon Wiesenthal Center supporters around the world.

Related:

• Washington, DC - SWC Government Affairs Director Mark Weitzman participated in a House Foreign Affairs Committee briefing on UNESCO'S 'Palestine' membership chaired by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), US Representative to the UN General Assembly… read full testimony.
• Palestinian Authority must play by UNESCO's rules - op/ed by Dr. Shimon Samuels who was present at UNESCO for the 'Palestine' vote… read more. 

Bibi’s response to UNESCO vote: Speed up settlement building

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered housing construction in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank to be expedited in response to UNESCO's vote granting full membership to the Palestinians.

The order to speed up construction of 2,000 housing units planned for eastern Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and Ma'aleh Adumim came from the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday evening following a meeting of Netanyahu and his inner Cabinet, which is made up of eight senior ministers. The group was discussing how to react to the UNESCO vote Monday by the U.N. cultural and scientific agency.

A statement from the Prime Minister's Office said the housing was in areas that would remain in Israel's hands in any future peace deal.

The inner Cabinet also decided to withhold $82 million in tax money that Israel collected for the Palestinian Authority in October that is used to pay Palestinian policemen and government employees. The ministers also decided not to allow UNESCO missions to enter Israel, according to reports.

UNESCO approved the Palestinians' membership bid during its general conference in Paris by a vote of 107 to 14, with the United States, Israel, Canada and Germany among those voting against the motion. Britain was among the 52 nations that abstained. France in a surprise voted for the Palestinians.

UNESCO is the first U.N. agency that the Palestinians have attempted to join since asking for full membership in the United Nations in September. It previously had observer status at the agency.

UNESCO vote to admit Palestine: how the countries voted

Below is the full count of yesterday’s vote at UNESCO to admit Palestine as a member:

No: Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sweden, United States of America, Vanuatu.

Abstentions: Albania, Andorra, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cook Islands, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Georgia, Haiti, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kiribati, Latvia, Liberia, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Switzerland, Thailand, Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Zambia.

Yes: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

Absent: Antigua and Barbuda, Central African Republic, Comoros, Dominica, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Madagascar, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Confederated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Niue, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan.

ELDER OF ZIYON: Now that 'Palestine' has joined UNESCO