The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees has spent seven decades and five billion dollars failing to live up to its name. Instead of solving the Palestinian refugee crises, UNWRA has perpetuated it by trapping millions in a never-ending cycle of victimhood. Now the time has come for America to lead the charge by providing relief that actually works.
Presently, UNRWA confers refugee status on every new generation of Palestinians, regardless of how many decades removed they are from those who fled the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It teaches children the fantasy of a Palestinian state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. The result has been lost generations wholly dependent upon aid and wholly unwilling to accept reality.
For seventy years, UNRWA has fed a pipe dream to Palestinians that they will one day overrun the Jewish state via mass migration. They’ve taught them that one day, Palestinians would be able to “return” home. This has kept successive generations from embracing peace and building lives where they live.
Meanwhile, Palestinian leaders continue to thumb their noses at the U.S. while simultaneously feeling entitled to American aid. The Trump administration’s decision to temporarily cut aid to the Palestinians is therefore warranted. But Israeli concerns that dramatic aid cuts could result in a humanitarian crisis should be considered.
The answer to the problem is found in the “UNRWA Reform and Refugee Support Act.”
This legislation distinguishes between Palestinian refugees from Israel’s 1948 War of Independence and the rest of the Palestinian population, yet it ensures the entire population receives the aid and support it needs. And, in line with the spirit of the Taylor Force Act, it ensures American tax dollars are not used to fuel the conflict. To be clear, this legislation does not cut aid to the Palestinians. Rather, it helps those who need it by sending support through appropriate agencies as opposed to funneling it all through UNRWA.
It is tragic that diplomats in New York and Brussels have taught Palestinians that they are unworthy of a future independent of international support.
Palestinians who’ve built lives in the U.S., Europe, Middle East, and elsewhere in the world have a home, a government and security – all of the things a refugee lacks. By approaching the Palestinian refugee issue in an apolitical, straightforward manner, experts believe that an accurate count of Palestinian refugees would cut the number of those aided by UNRWA from millions to about 30,000.
This truth threatens the status quo upon which so many make their living and ignores the tragedy that unfurls as millions remain reliant on international aid. The structures that support this system have to be deconstructed.
We have to improve the lives of Palestinians by weaning them off international aid and ending their state-sponsored addiction to hating their Israeli neighbors.
We have to encourage them to build lives in countries where they are citizens or in the West Bank and Gaza.
And we have to ensure that not one cent from the U.S. ever incentivizes Palestinian terrorism.
Just over six years ago and toward the end of his life, the late Elie Wiesel – an inspiration to me and millions of others – cautioned that a nation is judged by its attitude towards refugees. It is time to align our policies, our aspirations, and our values. If you’re pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian or simply pro-peace, you should also be pro-UNRWA reform.
Pastor John Hagee is the founder and Chairman of Christians United for Israel.
