In 2010 John Ging, head of UNRWA Gaza had stated that he was disappointed in Linday's criticisms of UNRWA for failure to resettle refugees. [143], In 2003, Israel released to newspapers what the New York Times called a "damning intelligence report". The IDF initially claimed it was responding to an attack by Hamas gunman hiding in the compound, but upon reexamination, said that an "errant shell had hit the school." [20] When it began operations in 1950, the initial scope of its work was "direct relief and works programmes" to Palestine refugees, in order to "prevent conditions of starvation and distress… and to further conditions of peace and stability". Initially, it was reported to be an UNRWA clinic but the IDF shortly thereafter retracted the claim thought it was noted that it had an UNRWA sign on it. [176][177] The decision came despite positive internal evaluations of the Agency by CIDA officials. [180], An initiative to reform UNRWA was announced by the Center for Near East Policy Research in March 2014. [24] The General Assembly passes a series of resolutions annually that address UNRWA's responsibilities, functions, and budget. [175], In January 2010, the Government of Canada announced that it was redirecting aid previously earmarked to UNRWA "to specific projects in the Palestinian Authority that will ensure accountability and foster democracy in the PA." Victor Toews, the president of Canada's Treasury Board, stated, "Overall, Canada is not reducing the amount of money given to the PA, but it is now being redirected in accordance with Canadian values. To date, UNRWA has participated in re-building 5,223 homes in Nahr el Bared in Northern Lebanon and has initiated a recovery and reconstruction plan for Gaza including clinics, schools, and housing units. With operations in three countries, the MD currently has the broadest regional coverage of any microfinance institution in the Middle East. Monies to UNRWA would be rechanneled to Arab countries in the area in the expectation that they would eventually absorb the Palestinian refugees resident in their states. Brown has pointed out that research into Palestinian textbooks conducted by the Centre for Monitoring the Impact of Peace in 1998 is misleading because it evaluates the old books; and in 2000, its research mixed old and new books. Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020, Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition This is the responsibility of the parties and international political actors. Overall negative or very negative representations of Palestinians occurred 49% of the time in Israeli state school books (73% in Haredi school books) and in 84% of Palestinian textbooks. [63] Basic health needs are met through a network of primary care clinics, providing access to secondary treatment in hospitals, food aid to vulnerable groups, and environmental health in refugee camps. [132][133][134], It has been reported that Hamas has interfered with curriculum and textbooks in UNRWA schools. [24][26] The Commissioner-General selects and appoints all the agency's staff, pursuant to internal rules and regulations, and reports directly to the General Assembly. The report also stated that "textbooks revealed numerous instances that introduce and promote the universal and religious values and concepts of respect of other cultures, religions, and ethnic groups, peace, human rights, freedom of speech, justice, compassion, diversity, plurality, tolerance, respect of law, and environmental awareness". The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. Several categories of persons have long been registered as eligible to receive UNRWA services although not "Palestine refugees".[22]. In 2012 when on two occasions, Israel Channel Two TV, the most popular network in Israel apologised and issued a retraction of these allegations. All the latest wordy news, linguistic insights, offers and competitions every month. UNRWA issued a plea[145] to all parties to respect the neutrality of its ambulances. This policy builds upon past successes, but also draws from international best practices and paves the way to better integrate human rights education in all our schools. Spokesman Chris Gunness: UNRWA has no plans to change its education programs in Gaza ... human rights are taught in all UNRWA schools from grades 1 through 9, discussing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “Affect” vs. “Effect”: Use The Correct Word Every Time. "[92], The High Commission is mandated to help refugees get on with their lives as quickly as possible and works to settle them rapidly, most frequently in countries other than those they fled. According to the UNRWA website: "We have been delivering human rights education in our schools since 2000 to promote non-violence, healthy communication skills, peaceful conflict resolution, human rights, tolerance, and good citizenship. [189] Since then the relationship has been characterized as "an uneasy marriage of convenience between two unlikely bedfellows that have helped perpetuate the problem both have allegedly sought to resolve."[189]. In a letter to the Agency's major donors, he said he was attempting to be honest because UNRWA has over 8,200 employees in the Gaza Strip. "The international community cannot accept a situation where the United Nations– its facilities, staff, and those it is protecting — are used as shields for militants and terrorist groups," State Department spokesone Edgar Vasquez told The Jerusalem Post. Since 1950, UNRWA has been the main healthcare provider for Palestinian refugees. [94], Andrew Whitley, director of the UNRWA representative office at UN headquarters in New York, said: "The agency is disappointed by the findings of the study, found it to be tendentious and partial, and regrets in particular the narrow range of sources used". UNRWA is committed to fostering human rights and tolerance, and teaches these values through the curriculum in its schools. According to the release from 26 August 2013, "UNRWA deeply regrets to confirm that one of its staff members, a 34-year-old father of four, was shot dead by Israeli forces and killed instantly in an operation in Kalandia refugee camp in the West Bank at approximately seven o'clock this morning. The Centre for Monitoring the Impact of Peace was re-constituted as The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) and seems to have improved the quality of its work. It also receives some revenue from the regular UN budget, mostly for international staffing costs. We must upgrade UNRWA's financial controls, management, and enforcement of US law that bars any taxpayer dollars from supporting terrorists. Overcrowded classrooms containing 40 or even 50 pupils are common. [193], In November 2002 Iain Hook, a British employee of UNRWA, was shot and killed by an IDF sniper while working in the Jenin refugee camp, during an operation to locate a Palestinian militant suspected of masterminding a suicide bombing that killed 14 people earlier in 2002. In a letter to the Agency's major donors, he said he was attempting to be honest because UNRWA has over 8,200 employees in the Gaza Strip. [119][120], Hansen later specified that he had been referring not to active Hamas members, but to Hamas sympathizers within UNRWA. In 1957 the definition was revised to specifically describe eligible refugees, referencing need and location—location meaning presence in one of the countries where UNRWA operates (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, West Bank, and Gaza)—in addition to loss of home and livelihood. In September 2011 it was reported that, under pressure from Hamas, UNRWA has made all its summer camps single-sex. The professional list won three UNRWA workers groups: the employees', teachers', and services' unions. [20] UNRWA's mandate was soon expanded through Resolution 393(V) (2 December 1950), which instructed the agency to "establish a reintegration fund which shall be utilized ... for the permanent re-establishment of refugees and their removal from relief". [54] In July 2020, Commissioner-General Lazzarini warned that UNRWA's budget was "not sustainable", with shortfalls in four out of the five previous years, and funding at its lowest point since 2012. In 2007, Israel expressed its continued support for UNRWA, noting that despite "concerns regarding the politicization" of the agency, the country supports its humanitarian mission. UNRWA's environmental health services program "controls the quality of drinking water, provides sanitation, and carries out vector and rodent control in refugee camps, thus reducing the risk of epidemics.". This work began in 2009 and was made necessary when the camp was destroyed in the fighting between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Fatah al-Islam in 2007. Although education was one of the fields in which UNRWA was supposed to provide aid, the agency did nothing to alter Palestinian educational texts that glorified violence and continuing war against Israel. [58][59] It has been the main provider of basic education to Palestinian refugee children since 1950. UNRWA stated it intended to seal the tunnel, and that is protested to Hamas. [180], An initiative to reform UNRWA was announced by the Center for Near East Policy Research in March 2014. [143], In 2003, Israel released to newspapers what the New York Times called a "damning intelligence report". [31], The Advisory Commission is led by a Chair and a Vice-Chair, representing a host country and a donor country, respectively. As it is technically a temporary organisation,[24] the agency's mandate is extended every three years; it was most recently renewed on 13 December 2019, extending until 30 June 2023. Both Kushner and Nikki Haley propose a cut off of U.S. funding for the organization, a proposal opposed by the State Department, the Pentagon, and the U.S. intelligence community, on the grounds that any such move would only fuel violence in the Middle East.[209]. Responding to the letter, a State Department spokesman said that the UN is taking "proactive steps to address this problem," including deploying munitions experts to the strip in search of more weapons caches. [5] As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees. n acronym for. [157][158], During the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, UNRWA spokesmen reported in July that weapons were found in three vacant UNRWA schools which had been closed for the summer. [210], Infrastructure and camp/settlement improvement, The mandate itself – including the definition of refugees, Creating dependency rather than resettling refugees, UNRWA facilities being abused by Hamas militants, Investigations and calls for accountability and reform, 2004 investigation by the United States Congress, Canadian redirection of funds from UNRWA to specific PA projects, UN General Assembly, Annual Report of the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, covering the period 1 July 1951 to 30 June 1952. [204][205][206], Following the tunnel discovery, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that UNRWA should be dismantled and reincorporated in other UN agencies. The film is grossly misleading and we regret the damage it has caused to UNRWA and the United Nations. In 2004, Emanual Marx and Nitza Nachmias pointed out that many criticisms of the agency corresponded to its age, "including symptoms of inflexibility, resistance to adjust to the changing political environment, and refusal to phase out and transfer its responsibilities to the Pa… [24] The mandate may also be shaped by requests from other UN organs, such as the Secretary-General. The video documentation was not convincing, and the Israeli military changed some of its earlier statements and conceded the possibility that the object could have indeed been a stretcher, but did not offer the apology Hansen had demanded.