The UN Has the Palestinians Covered

In her article, The UN's Palestinian Refugee Problem, Arlene Kushner notes the special treatment that Palestinian Arabs get from the UN above and beyond anything that other groups do:

The plight of the Palestinian refugees is, at first glance, fairly surprising. Whereas the rest of the world's refugees are the concern of the UNHCR [United Nations High Commission for Refugees], the Palestinians are the sole group of refugees with a UN agency dedicated exclusively to their care: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which operates independently of the Convention on refugees. The differences between the two agencies are striking: In addition to classifying Palestinian refugees by a distinct set of criteria, UNRWA, through an international aid package of several hundred millions of dollars a year, serves as the main provider of healthcare, education, relief, and social services for its client population–the sort of assistance UNHCR usually devolves to refugees' countries of asylum. Moreover, while the UNHCR actively seeks durable solutions to refugee problems, UNRWA has declined to entertain any permanent solution for the Palestinian refugees, insisting instead on a politically unfeasible "return" to pre-1967 Israel.

UNRWA is not the only personal agency that the UN provides for the Palestinians. On her site Eye on the UN, Anne Bayefsky writes that "of all subsidiary bodies of the UN General Assembly, six focus on Palestinians, and none on any other specific people in any UN member state." [emphasis added]

The UN site has a page listing its Subsidiary Organs and the 6 subsidiary bodies focusing solely on the Palestinian Arabs are:

o United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine
[established by GA Resolution 194 (III)]

o Advisory Commission on the United Nations Relief And Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
[established by GA Resolution 302 (IV)]

o Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People
[established by GA Resolution 3376 (XXX)]

o Ad Hoc Committee of the General Assembly for the Announcement of Voluntary Contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
[established by GA Resolution 1729 (XVI)]

o Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories
[established by GA Resolution 2443 (XXIII)]

o Working Group on the Finance of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
[established by GA Resolution 2656 (XXV)]

The page about the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People gives the following background to its establishment:

In 1975, by its resolution 3376 the General Assembly established the Committee, and requested it to recommend a programme of implementation to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights to self-determination without external interference, national independence and sovereignty; and to return to their homes and property. The Committee's recommendations were endorsed by the Assembly, to which the Committee reports annually The Assembly has gradually expanded the Committee’s mandate and established the Division for Palestinian Rights as its secretariat. [emphasis added]

In a world where terrorists are 'freedom fighters' we are far beyond the point where one can point out that the Palestinian Arabs are not a 'people'. Of course, if indeed all Palestinian Arabs have a right "to return to their homes and property" then the Arab world has no reason to give up on the idea of the 'Right of Return'.

On the other hand, it is interesting that though it says Palestinian Arabs have a right to return to their homes--it does not say they are returning to their homeland, which is what you'd expect with all the talk about national independence and sovereignty.

Also, note that Resolution 3376 which is referred to not only says that the General Assembly of the UN is "deeply concerned that no just solution to the problem of Palestine has yet been achieved," but that part of the General Assembly's motivation for taking action is that

the problem of Palestine continues to endanger international peace and security

First of all, this resolution was passed on November 10, 1975--the day the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 3379 equating Zionism with racism. Apparently, this was a busy day for the UN. More than that, to the degree that the "problem of Palestine" would "endanger international peace and security" it would be because of indiscriminate terrorist attacks, such as plane hijackings, by the PLO and fellow terrorist groups. So is the General Assembly admitting that Resolution 3376 is an act of appeasement?

Also, Resolution 3376 starts off saying that it recalls "resolution 32 (XXIX) of 22 November 1974," which reads in part that the UN General Assembly:

Further recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to regain its rights by all means in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations;

As Ami Isseroff points out:

The above phrase is a masterpiece of ambiguity. It could mean that the Palestinians have the right to use all means (including indiscriminate terror against civilians) to attain their rights, in accordance with the fact that the UN Charter supports self-determination. However, it could mean that they have the right to attain their rights only using means that are in accordance with the purposes and principles of the charter, which does not support war crimes. Though it is hard to believe, since at the time of adoption of the resolution, the PLO and other Palestinian groups were engaged in hijacking air planes and killing school children, the former interpretation may be the correct one.

Adding to the mess of UN anti-Israel resolutions over the years with vague, inaccurate and one-sided language, we are now faced with the inability of the UN to deal with the post 9/11 world. Anne Bayefsky has a list of "Straight UN Facts," among which are:

1. There is no UN definition of terrorism

2. Since September 28, 2001 the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee has never named a single terrorist, terrorist organization or state sponsor of terrorism

It never gets any easier, does it?

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