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House Committee Targets UNRWA

Posted on Friday June 28, 2002

Washington—On July 10, the House International Relations Committee has scheduled a hearing on the effectiveness of the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA), the agency responsible for aiding roughly half the world’s Palestinian population. Several committee members believe UNWRA is supporting terrorism and that the U.S. should discontinue funding to the agency. Using evidence and information supplied by the Israeli government, this hearing promises to be yet another one-sided congressional action to place blame on the Palestinians and third parties while avoiding Israel’s role in the current violence.

In response, AAI sent the following letter to Committee Chairman Henry Hyde earlier this month:

I am writing to you and the committee on the planned hearing on the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA) by the Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee proposed by Congressman Lantos.
If there were any possibility of an objective analysis of the situation in the Palestinian refugee camps, that opportunity expired when Israel blocked the U.S. and UN approved investigation/exploration/assessment of the harsh military actions by the IDF in Jenin in April.
It is difficult to see the proposed hearing, using evidence supplied by Israel, as anything other than yet another one-sided action to assess blame on the Palestinians and third parties while conveniently avoiding the role played by Israel in aggravating this occupation of Palestinian land that is at the heart of the conflict.
It is time to stop this needless “piling on” by Rep. Lantos and his colleagues who seem unable to exhibit any sensibility towards the historic and current conditions of occupation that have brought us to the cycle of violence that all of us abhor.
Please call off the attack on UNWRA and encourage the members to look for reasonable efforts to shed light on possible solutions that require political will from all parties to the conflict, not a continuous bashing of the Palestinian leadership.
The subcommittee has not demonstrated the type of leadership exhibited by our President who, officially, supports a two-state solution. Isn’t it time the subcommittee became part of the solution rather than an obstacle to solving the problems of occupations, violence and repression that define the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?
We look forward to your action on this matter.

AAI has also issued an action alert calling on community members to contact committee members and ask them to support UNRWA. http://capwiz.com/arab/issues/alert/?alertid=274536&type=CO

“UNRWA’s work must not be manipulated by those on a mission to demonize the Palestinian people. At a time when Secretary General Kofi Annan is calling for increased UNRWA funding because of the devastation caused by Israel’s most recent onslaught, it is shameful that some members of the House International Relations Committee are trying to do a hatchet job on one of the few lifelines left to Palestinians. Sending yet another one-sided message and making the lives of Palestinians more difficult in the process won’t help end the violence but it will certainly hurt U.S. interests in the region,” said AAI Managing Director Jean AbiNader.