A new English-language play is touring Israel, titled "Building Understanding: Epitaph for a Dead Warehouse." The show combines video clips with a one-man performance by Chris Gunness, who plays the part of a UN warehouse in Gaza described as "the victim of an excruciatingly painful fire that burned me down," due to the IDF using illegal white phosphorous to bomb the building. The videos show the bombing, as well as interviews with the warehouse staff, complaining of being doused by a bomb that "looks like phosphorus, it smells like phosphorus and it burns like phosphorus."
An IDF probe found minimal quantities of phosphorus material, which came from smoke rather than weapons, within the limits of international law. In an interview with Israel National News, Gunness said he had no way to confirm that the shells had, in fact, been fired by IDF soldiers, although his one-man show places the blame squarely on the IDF's shoulders.
Who is Chris Gunness? Who would take out the time, effort and resources to perform such a series of falsehoods, besmirching the reputation of Israel's military (as seems to be de rigeur these days)?
Of course, Chris Gunness is a UN worker.
Gunness, however, is not just any UN worker – he is the head spokesperson for UNRWA. Yes, the same UNRWA that describes itself as having been established "to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees" and "the main provider of basic services – education, health, relief and social services – to…registered Palestine refugees in the Middle East."
The provider of social services to Palestinian refugees proudly displayed an article from McClatchy Newspapers praising Gunness's performance, on its website. This is an interesting strategy, considering that nowhere in its mandate or mission statements is UNRWA given the role of taking political positions and disseminating them; the agency seems to have taken it upon itself to slander Israel.
It's hard to imagine how the Palestinian refugee problem can be solved, while it's in the care of UNRWA. Time and again, this agency shows that it is incapable of handling its mandate and serves values opposite of those of the countries that fund UNRWA. Not only are the vast majority of the agency's workers also recipients of UNRWA's services, which in all other UN agencies is consider a conflict of interest, the agency has also employed members of Hamas and other terrorist groups. The textbooks in UNRWA schools feature inflammatory and incorrect information about the United States and Israel, deny the holocaust, and glorify terror. In this way, UNRWA has served as a conduit for terror since Arafat made refugees the symbol of the Palestinian Nationalist struggle in the 1960s, perpetuating the Israel-Arab conflict rather than helping to assuage it.
Recently, Congressmen like Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Steve Rothman (D-NJ) have proposed the UNRWA Accountability Bill, demanding transparency and responsibility from UNRWA. United States donations to UNRWA in 2009 reached $154.5 million by early October, and may increase before the year's end. The bill seeks to ensure that money sent to UNRWA from the United States does not fund terror, and emphasizes the need to evaluate the curricula in UNRWA schools.
While Kirk and Rothman's actions are praiseworthy, they are not enough. As Middle East analyst Asaf Romirowsky has pointed out, UNRWA works in a way that is opposite of other humanitarian operations and refugee relief agencies, such as the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR encourages resettlement, avoiding political stances and putting refugees in danger, whereas UNRWA favors the "right of return," thus blocking resettlement, takes clear political positions, and is connected to terrorist groups. In 2005, UNHCR served 19.2 refugees and asylum seekers in 116 countries with a budget of $992 million and a staff of 6,450. In the same year, UNRWA had a staff of 24,300 and a $339 million budget for only 4.1 million refugees in only five areas.
Refugees may benefit from UNRWA's services to some extent, but the organization itself seems to benefit much more from the refugees. Without refugees, UNRWA would no longer exist; therefore, UNRWA has no motivation to solve the refugee problem. Clearly, the way to solve the refugee problem is to dismantle UNRWA, and replace it with an organization that can look forward and find solutions, rather than focus on politics and encourage terror.
Sources: http://www.rightsidenews.com/
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