Death of UN worker reopens allegations that UN agency indirectly complicit in terrorism

The Jerusalem Post / The Associated Press ^ | 26 November 2002

[anotherview]

Nov. 26, 2002 Death of UN worker reopens allegations that UN agency indirectly complicit in terrorism By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The gate to the UN girls' school in the Jenin refugee camp is plastered with posters hailing suicide bombers, and the UN compound down the street has graffiti on its outer wall signed by the militant group Hamas warning that "When they kill a martyr, we will kill 100 Jews."

Such wall art would be unthinkable on a UN building anywhere else in the world. But the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees is not like any other, having provided education and health care to Palestinians for over 50 years -often the only services available in refugee camps that sprang up after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and remain today.

But that intertwined UN-Palestinian relationship has fueled Israeli allegations of indirect UN complicity in Palestinian terror - charges that were aired again with the killing of a UN official by Israeli soldiers during a firefight in the Jenin refugee camp last week.

The Israeli army said its soldiers fired on the walled UN compound inside the camp, killing British senior manager Iain Hook, because Palestinian gunmen were shooting at them from inside - a charge the United Nations vigorously denied.

Paul McCann, a UN spokesman, said such allegations were "incredible" _ particularly since the compound is sealed by an 2.5-meter-tall (8-foo) cement block wall topped with another 2 meters (6 feet) of fencing, and closed to anyone without UN permission.

"No, no, no, it was impossible for any Palestinian gunman to get in there," said Tawfiq Mohammad Farhad Farhad, 75, whose three-story home is directly across the street from the UN compound, explaining that Israeli tanks had sealed off the area and troops had poured into the streets Friday when the firefight broke out.

He spoke Monday as he kicked spent bullet casings on his living room floor that he says were left behind by Israeli soldiers who used his second- and third-floor landings to fire onto the UN compound and street as they hunted for a wanted militant.

Nevertheless, Israeli officials say Friday's firefight was just another instance in which Palestinian militants had used UNRWA, or the UN Relief and Works Agency, as a cover to attack Israelis.

The allegation hits a particular nerve, considering the long history of strained relations between Israel and the United Nations: while UN resolutions paved the way for the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, relations have been soured for much of the time since.

Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said he didn't blame UNRWA for direct collaboration with Palestinian militants, but said UNRWA could do more to "raise its voice" to oppose armed groups from operating in the camps.

"What you find today in Jenin is a litany of the history of the use, misuse and abuse of camps by armed groups," he said. Israel has called Jenin the hotbed of Palestinian militant activity, and staged a massive offensive in the city in April, laying waste to dozens of buildings and homes in the refugee camp.

UNRWA was created in 1949 to provide relief until a political settlement was found. Since none has yet been reached, the agency today offers education, health care and other services to 3.9 million people - the original refugees and their descendants - in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In the West Bank and Gaza alone, UNRWA operates about 260 schools and about 50 primary health care facilities, serving more than 1.5 million registered refugees and employing about 10,000 Palestinians.

UNRWA has vigorously denied accusations that it turns a blind eye to terror and says it's not in its mandate to go after militants, saying security in refugee camps has always been the responsibility of either Israel or the Palestinian Authority.

"The camps are not UNRWA camps ... it's not like we administer the camps," McCann said. "We have a humanitarian responsibility for people who live in the camps."

Similarly, the teachers, doctors and nurses who work for UNRWA can't be expected to act as informants - they are Palestinians, just like their neighbors, and that's not their job, he said.

"They live in these communities. To ask them to inform on people ... what can be expected?" he said.

That argument hasn't swayed some Jewish groups or American legislators, who earlier this year launched a campaign to reform UNRWA and change its mandate, claiming that its schools tolerated a climate of terrorism that no UN agency would allow.

"UNRWA has been transformed into a shield for terrorism," said Avi Beker, secretary general of the World Jewish Congress. "UNRWA has been used, but at the same time, under the watchful eyes of UNRWA officials, these things are happening."

U.S. Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia said earlier this year that if terrorism was thriving under UNRWA's eye, the United States should withhold funding - which amounts to about one-third of the agency's annual budget of about US$310 million.

McCann says such allegations are based on opinion, not fact. He acknowledges, however, that the United Nations can do little about the graffiti and posters that cover the outer walls of its schools and compounds.

"We make a strong and ongoing effort to weed out contentious material" inside the schools, he said. "Outside the schools ... as soon as we painted it, there'd be graffiti back on it."

As his friends horsed around nearby, 13-year-old Mohammad Baadi looked at the gate to the UN girls' school when asked what he thought about the posters glorifying recent suicide bombers.

"I want to die when I get older," he said quietly.

[Diogenesis]

"This just in. Saddam's puppet and UN Emperor Abu Annan has something to say about
the Jenin UN compound with its sign promising to "... kill 100 Jews".
Annan may even explain the latest murders of children and innocents by his
close friend and client, Arafat the Egyptian, murderer of Americans.
Perhaps Emperor Abu Annan may even finally deign to say something about
the three billion dollars per year which the UN gives Terrorist Saddam to promote his regime,
or the 1.5 billion dollars kept by Arafat the Egyptian, or the murders which the UN promotes.
Why Emperor Annan may even possibly discuss (at last) his UN support of Islamic slavery.
Yes, at long last, we may finally find out what is going on and why the UN supports tyrants
and murderers. .....
Here at last is the mighty supporter of tyrants, Emperor Abu Annan .........
........
........
........
........ hold on .............
........
........ his holy UN Imperial Excellency Annan ......
........
........ but..... but .... your Excellency ... how gross .... ugggh ....

[onedoug]

Israel should kick-out the UN and the Islamists.

[What Is Ain't]

"I want to die when I get older," he said quietly."

Palestinian wisdom.

[anotherview]

LOL :) Don't worry, after a few more years of Palestinian indoctrination... er.... education whe will grow out of it.

He certainly sounds wiser than most of the Palestinian leadership.

[iopscusa]

Israel & The US should do away with the UN and the Islamist at the same time...immediately!

[Enemy Of The State]

"Death of UN worker"

Sounds like either justifiable homicide or self defense to me...Dont shoot until you see the blue of their helmet

[dalebert]

How do we defend ourselves from the UN? The UN is looking more like the core of terrorism.

[NewRomeTacitus]

Saw the site of the killing on Fox News. The barrier Hook was standing near was stitched by full-auto fire, from bottom to top. Seems somebody knew exactly what they were shooting at.

[BenR2]

"Death of UN worker"

Cry me a river.

[BenR2]

Dont shoot until you see the blue of their helmet

Great line.