(Miami Herald) Kenneth Bandler - The staff of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), numbering some 27,000, is four times the size of the workforce of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), deployed in every other conflict where refugees need help. The Arab world's refusal to integrate Palestinian refugees and the generosity of Western governments in providing more than 95% of UNRWA's funding has assured its existence. The U.S. provides more than 25% of UNRWA's $500 million annual budget. Arab nations account for about 1%. In sharp contrast to the Palestinians, the 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands, also a product of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, were successfully absorbed in Israel and other countries around the world. The writer is the American Jewish Committee's director of communications.
2010-10-21 09:18:35Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive