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REFUGEES STRIKE AGAINST
UNRWA
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MER - Washington - 7 September:
     Whatever the original intentions of the United Nations, for years now the U.N. has been used and manipulated by the U.S. and Israel.
     In Lebanon, the U.N. has been terribly abused, the Qana massacre last year the culmination of years of Israeli arrogance and violence. At the time of the Gulf War the U.N. inexcuseably allowed itself to become twisted into an appendage of American policy. At U.N. Headquarters, the American veto, Israeli disdain, and ongoing indifference and cowardice on the part of so many, have paralyzed the organization from seriously dealing with one of the most important threats to international peace and justice; one which the U.N. itself helped bring about. And in recent years the U.N. has allowed itself to be pushed aside after decades of involvement and scores of resolutions, for a duplicitous American "peace process".
     Indeed, with the shocking American dismissal of Butros Ghali and annointment of Kofi Annan last year, the very independence of the U.N. is more in question than ever.
     And now, finally, in the refugee camps of the Middle East where the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been engaged for some 50 years, the refugees themselves are protesting, realizing that as with so many things about the Middle East, words are often in contradiction to actions, and institutions, as well as individuals, are all too often corrupted and twisted beyond recognition. Though it is not likely the Palestinian refugees as currently organized are going to be able to have a serious impact, even so they are to be congratulated for finally organizing themselves to protest -- especially doing so under the extremely difficult, almost incomprehensively difficult, conditions they face.
     The following leaflet explaining the upcoming protest and strike has been issued by the "Union of Youth Activity Centers/West Bank".
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PALESTINIAN REFUGEES CALL FOR STRIKE AGAINST UNRWA
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"While our people suffer from the closure and its dangerous reflections on their daily lives, their economical situation, and their spirit, the so-called Refugees' Relief Agency aggravates the effects of the closure by reducing its services to refugees who - as a result of expulsion and harsh economical and social conditions - represent the social sector most exposed to suffering.
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The steps taken by the so-called Refugees' Relief Agency coincide with and are in harmony with the [Israeli] closure policy, from which the occupied territories and the PNA areas have suffered since long. This confirms that UNRWA is part and parcel of the political scheme, and that - especially since the Madrid conference - the Agency has played that suspicious role of which we have warned several times; a role which is in complete harmony with the plans to end the Palestinian refugee question by disregarding all internationally legitimized resolutions, the foremost among them Resolution 194 on the refugees' right of return.
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We of the Union of Youth Activities Centers in the West Bank and in Gaza, with all the popular committees inside the refugees camps and the women, youth, and student committees who support us, we [as part of] the Palestinian people in general, whether inside Palestine or in the diaspora, warn the so-called Refugees' Relief Agency to abstain from taking this role and ask it to remember its main task, i.e. the provision of "relief". For this aim UNRWA was established in late 1949, and it continues to be obliged to fulfill this role, until a just solution for the refugee question is reached.
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On this occasion, we unite our voices and our energy on behalf of all the positive initiatives and public activities which stand up against the new policy of UNRWA. We express our deep condemnation and protest against this silly policy, and we will make all efforts to develop the spirit of protest and popular refugee mobilization, as well as the broad Palestinian national commitment to our cause. We, from our side, thus state the following facts, suggestions, and recommendations:
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1) Unification of efforts and improvement of coordination among all refugee activities, frameworks, and leaderships must be obtained by means of a general popular conference so as to enable us to stand strong against the dangers facing the refugees.
2) Objections against such conferences raised in the past must be re-evalutated. We must rid ourselves of fears and insist on the necessity of building a refugee body able to stand up against the UNRWA policy and to follow-up the refugees' recommendations of al Far'ah, Deheishe and Gaza. This even more so now, when the current situation proves the correctness of these recommendations.
3) Immediate emergency efforts must be made for the establishment of a High Council of Refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which will supervise the implementation of our program of action and defend refugee rights. Refugees, on the other hand, must be bound by its decisions.
4) The decisions taken in the refugee workshop in Jericho on 26 April 1997 must be implemented, i.e. elections of popular committees must be held in the refugee camps.
5) It is necessary to separate between the financial support provided by the donor countries to the PNA on the one hand, and to UNRWA on the other. Donors must give preference to the UNRWA budget due to their responsibility for the Palestinian refugee question.
6) We demand from the Arab host countries to coordinate closely among each other and with the PLO on matters pertaining to the Palestinian refugee question in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and in the PNA areas.
7) Refugee protest must be strengthened and maintained so as to re-instate UNRWA services. The Agency must be obliged to provide all those education and health services, employment, and food support which both UNRWA and the donor countries were committed to provide in the past.
8) We reject and resist the policy of vertical building in the camps, because it is not fit for dealing with the increasing density and the growth of the population there. We demand efforts for expanding the limits of the camps, e.g. by renting new lands and by extending UNRWA services to the new areas.
9) The struggle for free secondary education must be developed, and the problem of the rising number of students in the classes must be solved by adding new classes; new job opportunities for refugees must be created. The struggle for free health services in public and private clinics and hospitals must continue. The patient's right to free access to treatment in these clinics and hospitals must be protected.
10) We consider December 9, 1997 - the day of the meeting of donors and Arab host countries in Amman - as a day of general strike of all UNRWA affiliated services, such as health and educational institutions. We invite UNRWA employees to join the refugee population in their strike on this day and to explain the dangers of the new UNRWA policy..
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