A Bold, Common Sense UN Move for the Trump Administration

"Over the years, UNRWA has helped prolong the refugee problem it was created to resolve. A self-perpetuating bureaucracy, UNRWA also functions as an employment agency with a reported 30,000 staffers-most Palestinian and some having come from terrorist groups like Hamas. It boasts an annual budget of $1.3 billion, of which American taxpayers provide $400 million.

In the 2014 Gaza Strip war between Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations and Israel, UNRWA facilities-including schools and clinics-served wittingly or unwittingly as weapons depots and launch pads or as "shields" against retaliation for attacks staged from adjacent properties. During periods of quiet, anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish curricula in UNRWA schools have indoctrinated future generations of rejectionists and terror recruits...

That is why, for both political and humanitarian reasons, it would be appropriate for the United States to call for UNRWA to be folded into the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, and insist on designating its $400 million UNRWA allocation to the UNHCR.

Further, the United States should require that Palestinian Arab refugees be treated like all other displaced groups. None of them can bequeath refugee status-and the material, financial and diplomatic support that comes with it-to future generations. Finally, the United States should insist UNRWA-enabled anti-Israel, anti-peace curricula not migrate to UNHCR.

Unlike many other U.N. resolutions dealing with Israelis and Palestinians in Orwellian ways, merging UNRWA into UNHCR could foster an atmosphere conducive in the long run to peace."