(Israel Hayom) Ariel Kahana - Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told foreign ambassadors and diplomats on Tuesday that UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, should be shut down. "Israel's policy is to close UNRWA. They are the problem, not the solution. Over the years, we have seen how instead of settling the original refugees, UNRWA has acted to increase the number of refugees, as it did when it automatically transferred refugee status from generation to generation," Hotovely said. "There is no parallel for this in the world, and it only perpetuates the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict. After 70 years, why are there still Palestinian refugees?...The Jordanian model, in which Jordan de facto naturalized the [Palestinian] refugees, is also the right model for Syria and Lebanon," she said. Former Labor MK Dr. Einat Wilf also took part in the briefing and said ongoing Western support for UNRWA constitutes an obstacle to peace, as it is perceived by the Palestinians as implied support for their demand to "return" to Israel.
2018-11-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive