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After Scandal at UN Agency for Palestinians, PA Should Take Over UNRWA's Functions

(Wall Street Journal) Alex Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky - A corruption scandal involving sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation against whistleblowers and lots of business-class travel has gripped the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). The scandal provides a unique opportunity to phase out the billion-dollar UN bureaucracy. One lesson that funders must learn concerns the danger of devoting an international organization to a single population. UNRWA was effectively taken over by Palestinians decades ago. UNRWA's 30,000 employees could join the Palestinian Authority, which would take over its health, education and welfare responsibilities like the state it claims to be. UNRWA's expensive international cadre, including lobbyists in Washington and Geneva, should be disbanded. And Palestinian residents of Arab states - all of whom are considered refugees by UNRWA - should become citizens of those states, as they are in Jordan, or of the Palestinian Authority. If Palestinians truly desire a state, they should join the call for UNRWA's abolition. Mr. Joffe is a fellow at the Middle East Forum. Mr. Romirowsky is executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.
2019-08-07 00:00:00
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