UNRWA Having Problems--Prefers Palestinians Focus On Israel

UNRWA seems to be having problems--and the Arabs are blaming them:

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees was forced to close its offices in Gaza City last week as protesters blockaded its entrances, angry at the slashing of UNRWA's emergency programs.

Demonstrators physically blocked the entrances of the agency's offices with large vehicles after UNRWA removed tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees from its food distribution list.

So what is a cash-strapped UN agency to do? Blame Israel, of course--as UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness makes clear:

From UNRWA's point of view, it would be better for those states and organizations with the power to bring the necessary pressures to bear to end the collective punishment rather than pay UNRWA to deal with its disastrous impact. We would far rather be spending our time and our donors' money on human development, particularly in education, which does add to the stability of this region than on emergency operations which respond to an illegal and destabilizing collective punishment. Is it not better to end the root cause, which is the collective punishment?

Putting aside the issue of the weapons that would then come into Gaza, maybe the Gazans would not be so angry if UNRWA would just do their job--which supposedly is not give out money, but rather help the Arabs.

Having failed to do that, it falls upon Israel to pick up the slack. The Gazan's main export is agricultural, and Israel is helping to guarantee their success:

Head of the Directorate of Agriculture Coordination and Liaison in Gaza, Uri Madar, held a conference with major Gaza Strip farmers on Wednesday, July 20th, preparing them for cultivation and export of crops for next year. An Israeli specialist attended the conference, teaching those present proper cultivation and pest-control methods.

Mr. Madar said that the program is, "Intended to help Palestinian farmers prepare for the November export season including soil preparation, crop treatment and appropriate use of pesticides and fertilizers. We hope to improve crop production after an unsuccessful year, where the crops were deemed inadequate by European consumers. The strawberry specialist thus presented the production process, taught of different types and uses of pesticides and fertilizers, and of post-picking treatment, which is the most important and delicate step."

Lt. Col. Kobi Gertzvolf, Head of the Directorate of Financial Coordination and Liaison in Gaza, added that "we want to help Palestinian farmers
properly grow and use pesticides to improve next year's crops in both quality and quantity, in hope of increasing exports to Europe and thus
improving profits and the Palestinian economy at the Gaza Strip." He added that "it is evident that the participating farmers had a great time and
learned a lot."

So what exactly does UNRWA do, besides handing out money and allowing hatred of Israel to be taught in their schools?

Technorati Tag: Israel and UN and Gaza.