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UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness made sure to release this announcement at the end of last week: "Several media outlets have reported that UNRWA intends to close its headquarters in Gaza. These reports are false. UNRWA HQ Gaza is not closing. The Agency affirms categorically that there are no plans to do so and staff are not being let go." Puzzlingly, the panicky announcement seemed to have been circulated even more widely than the alleged reports of the UNRWA closure. In any event, Gunness took the opportunity to state that "UNRWA is fully committed to maintaining its presence in the Gaza...

During the Hamas attacks on Israel, in which the UNRWA whose local staff is dominated by Hamas supporters was complicit, Chris Gunness had become its public face, appearing everywhere and even breaking down during one broadcast. Now Gunness has suffered another breakdown, this time on Twitter. Gunness lost his cool over an op-ed written by a Palestinian Arab and published in the Jerusalem Post which blamed UNRWA for prolonging the suffering of his people in order to justify its existence and deepen its coffers.Bassem Eid, the author of that op-ed, is the founder and director of the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human...

Published: 06/13/07, 1:55 PM Hamas Publishes Fatah Hit-List, Confiscates US-Supplied Weapons by Ezra HaLevi (IsraelNN.com) The civil war between Hamas and Fatah terrorists raged on in Gaza Wednesday, with Hamas on the verge of victory. Hamas seized thousands of weapons and vehicles granted to Fatah by the Oslo Accords. A Hamas spokesman said that a decision had been taken to kill all of Fatah’s leading officials, who he referred to as “dogs beholden to their Israeli masters.” Hamas has distributed a list of at least 30 Fatah officials it seeks to have killed for complicity, they say, in a US-backed...

The United Nations found troves of rockets hidden in three UN schools since the conflict began. “We condemn the group or groups who endangered civilians placing these munitions in our school,” Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, said Wednesday. “This is yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises. We call on all the warring parties to respect the inviolability of U.N. property.” Earlier this month, the United Nations also found rockets piled inside one of its vacant schools — near other schools used to accommodate displaced people. Inside a Gaza Strip mosque in...

OBAMA AWOL IN TERROR WAR By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN Published on DickMorris.com on February 19, 2009 President Barack Obama's record in battling terrorism has proven so weak that one wonders if he really takes the issue seriously. Since he has taken office, the president has: • Announced closure of Guantanamo. • Declined to prosecute the mastermind behind the USS Cole bombing. • Closed all overseas CIA interrogation centers. • Appointed an Attorney General and Justice Department officials on record as opposed to the use of "enhanced" interrogation techniques in terror investigations. • Granted Al Arabia television his first...

The Israeli office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories slammed UNRWA and accused the United Nations organization of creating a provocation. Despite not having received Israeli approval, UNRWA drove several trucks carrying supplies from Jerusalem to the Gaza border crossing and coordinated their arrival with several media outlets, which filmed the trucks being turned away.

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Gaza government officials on Tuesday urged school children to leave classrooms if human rights lessons included information about the Holocaust. The Hamas-led government said it would do everything it could to prevent children being taught about the Holocaust in UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip. It accused the UN agency of overstepping its humanitarian and relief role. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness explained that human rights education has been part of the agency's curriculum in schools across the region since 2002. In Gaza, the agency runs 228 schools, educating over 200,000 children. "Because of the situation in...

'Extreme' desert runner Max Calderan's "Run for Love" may be more about politics than peace, despite claims by United Nations spokesman Chris Gunness that the event has little to do with religion or politics. Nonetheless, Calderan found out the hard way that not all marathons are alike, when he encountered a snag at the Erez Crossing into Gaza, where IDF officials stopped him right in his tracks.

Hamas police in Gaza have seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for needy residents, UN spokesman Chris Gunness said Wednesday. Gunness said Hamas police raided a UN warehouse in Gaza City, snatching 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels - supplied meant for 500 Palestinian families. He said the incident took place on Tuesday evening, and that it marked the first time Hamas had seized UN aid. The aid is especially vital now because Gazans are facing hardship after Israel's three-week military offensive against Hamas. Israeli officials have charged that the group routinely confiscates supplies meant for needy...

A heated argument is going on via Arutz Sheva between Christopher Gunness, UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency created especially for the Arab "refugees") spokesman in Israel, and David Bedein, head of the Israel Resource News Agency, Center for Near East Policy Research in Jerusalem, about whether UNRWA bears responsibility for programs that promote destroying Israel at UNRWA-aided schools. The story: David Bedein wrote an op-ed for Arutz Sheva claiming UNRWA sponsored programs were based on implementing the "Law of Return", even through violence. UNRWA's spokesman vehemently denied it. ..... .....

Update as of 7:30 a.m. EDT: Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian protester near Hebron in the West Bank early on Monday morning. According to reports, 11 others were injured in confrontations between the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, and civilians in Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah. Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said in an IDF briefing that Hamas had “suffered great damage” and that IDF will “make Hamas regret that they embarked on a round of fighting with Israel.” Referring to rocket fire from Syria and Lebanon, Ya’alon stated that Israel would “respond aggressively” against such attempts. At least...

  UNRWA lifts suspension on Gaza aid imports http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=42740 UNRWA Press Release East Jerusalem 09 Feb 2009FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEUNRWA LIFTS SUSPENSION OF AID IMPORTS INTO GAZA PRESS STATEMENT BY CHRISTOPHER GUNNESS UNRWA SPOKESPERSONThe Hamas authorities in Gaza have returned to the UNRWA warehouses in Gaza City and Rafah all of the aid supplies confiscated on 03 and 05 February. UNRWA will now lift the suspension on the import of its humanitarian supplies into Gaza, which went into effect on 05 February.However, the Agency's food distribution operation to 900,000 refugees continues to be jeopardized by the decision of the Israeli...

The IDF was not responsible for the death of a Palestinian aid worker contracted to the UN and the wounding of two others on Thursday, the IDF Spokesman said Saturday. "An IDF investigation has found that it was not the army who fired on a UN truck at the Erez crossing," the IDF Spokesman's Office said. The IDF is not sure who fired on the truck, and is still investigating. "The army further wishes to point out that the Palestinian wounded were evacuated by the Red Cross to the Israeli border, where they were taken by Israeli medical personnel for...

Hamas on Monday claimed to have confiscated three ambulances that were imported into the Gaza Strip for UNRWA several weeks ago, backing up an earlier IDF claim that the ambulances had been seized. But UNRWA, which last week denied an earlier Jerusalem Post article quoting IDF claims that the ambulances had been confiscated, reiterated Monday that the reports were false, said that the ambulances were safe and sound in its Gaza compound, and even distributed a photograph of one of its officials, Christer Nordal, posing with what it said were the vehicles in question. According to a statement released by...

Israel is calling out a United Nations aid agency for falsely claiming that the Israeli Defense Forces did not permit civilians to evacuate a Gaza school where 15 people were killed today. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) laid blame for the civilian deaths on the IDF, claiming it never received approval from the IDF for an evacuation from the facility. UNRWA—which has been under fire in recent days for allowing Hamas to use its facilities to store rockets—released a statement claiming: “UNRWA had been attempting to negotiate with the [IDF] a pause in the fighting during which they...

As usual, there is a big gap between what Arab countries promise and what they deliver. Ki-moon walks through a Hamas terror tunnel from Gaza to Israel last year. Photo Credit: Haim Zach / GPO UNRWA said Tuesday it has suspended it program rehabilitate Gaza, which may be good news for Israel since it says material shipped to Gaza are also being used to rehabilitate terror tunnels. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told President Reuven Rivlin in New York Monday night that the United Nations has sent a team to Gaza to investigate assertions by Israel that metal and cement shipped...

Israel on Thursday called out a United Nations aid agency for falsely claiming that the Israeli Defense Forces did not permit civilians to evacuate a Gaza school where 15 people were killed in an Israeli attack, reports the Washington Free Beacon. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) laid blame for the civilian deaths on the IDF, claiming it never received approval from the IDF for an evacuation from the facility. UNRWA released a statement claiming, “UNRWA had been attempting to negotiate with the [IDF] a pause in the fighting during which they would guarantee a safe corridor to relocate...