Free Republic

The Trump administration has decided to cancel all U.S. funding of the United Nations aid program for Palestinian refugees, part of its determination to put its money where its policy is as it seeks a recalculation of U.S. foreign aid spending and prepares its own Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. In an announcement to be made within the next several weeks, the administration plans to voice its disapproval of the way the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, spends the funds and to call for a sharp reduction in the number of Palestinians recognized as refugees, dropping it from more than...

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday appeared to question the world body’s count of Palestinian refugees, the latest in a series of steps by the Trump administration challenging how relief aid is delivered to the Palestinians. In remarks at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank often sympathetic to Israel, Haley agreed with a questioner who suggested that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), which helps Palestinian refugees, overcounts their number. The United States earlier this year cut its aid to UNWRA to $60 million from a promised $350 million for the...

UNRWA, the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees” on Tuesday responded to the U.S. decision to cut the funding it provides to the organization by half. "Given the long, trusted, and historic relationship between the United States and UNRWA, this reduced contribution threatens one of the most successful and innovative human development endeavors in the Middle East," said UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl in a statement. “The reduced contribution also impacts regional security at a time when the Middle East faces multiple risks and threats, notably that of further radicalization," he warned. .....

The number of “Palestinian refugees” in Lebanon has decreased significantly over the past few years and many are leaving for other countries to try to improve their situation. In an interview with the Hamas newspaper Palestine on Thursday, Hamas’s representative in Lebanon Ali Baraka said that some 260,000 “Palestinian refugees” had left the refugee camps in Lebanon to various countries in recent years because of the difficult security and economic conditions. According to him, the figures he cited are based on a poll conducted by the Lebanese authorities and which indicates that there is a deliberate action to bring about...

In case you thought the title was referring to the Palestinians living in Gaza, or even Judea and Samaria, you’d be wrong. From my vantage point, these Palestinians have it pretty good, whether in relation to Palestinians living elsewhere, even in Jordan, or to Arabs generally, living in Egypt or Turkey. “Palestinian” is a name given to Arabs after the ’67 War, who lived or did live in the area known as Palestine during the Palestine Mandate and afterwards right up to the present and includes their descendants even if such descendants never set foot in the area known as...

Time to React! By Ari Bussel There was a barrage of e-mails after Obama’s and Netanyahu’s speeches, what should Israel do, what should the USA do? Some warned Israel’s supporters that action is necessary for Israel cannot survive Obama. Others still use the recent speeches against Israel, blaming her for the fact that peace remains elusive after 63 years. The President will remain in office for another year and a half. The Prime Minister’s coalition government also seems stable enough. Even in the Israeli political sandbox, it is likely to withstand any mishaps or votes to break it down. Thus,...

What Really Happened in 1948 By Sarah El Shazly FrontPageMagazine.com | December 28, 2004 Ever since I was a child, I've heard a range of accounts of what happened to the Palestinians and Palestine. Everyone knows the Jewish version and the Arab version. But there is a third side, that of those who lived there and still do -- the Israeli Arabs. Some Jews want us out of Israel, and some Arabs believe that we are an extension of the Zionists. Yet we Israeli Arabs keep our culture and traditions. Mahshy, or stuffed grape leaves, remains our favorite meal. We...

Palestinian Refugees Insist: ‘No Alternative to Right of Return’ Israel: Palestinians Can Only Return to Their Future State Palestine Media Center- (PMC) [Offical arm of the PA] http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=996 A Palestinian “No Alternative to Right of Return Conference” in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday stressed that “it is impossible to achieve a just and comprehensive peace” without guaranteeing the right of return for “all” Palestinian refugees, amid an Israeli official and non-official rejection of a statement by the PNA Foreign Minister to the same conclusion. Hundreds of Palestinian representatives meeting in Ramallah condemned “suspicious and marginal campaigns, which...

Libya has decided to freeze its dealings with the Arab League, prior to withdrawing from this body, the official Libyan news agency reported Saturday. "The ministry of African Unity Affairs notified Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League, that it is preparing a memo ... for Libya to withdraw from the Arab League," the JANA agency said. Moussa left Libya on Saturday after a 24-hour visit in which he asked Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi to drop his long-mooted plan to withdraw from the league, JANA reported. "Libya is an effective country, and its withdrawal from the Arab league...

Mar. 5, 2003 EU donates 15 million euros in aid to Palestinian refugees The European Union is donating 15 million euros (US $15 million) worth of food and cash aid to 337,500 Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the West Bank, the Amman office of the European Commission said in a statement Wednesday. It said at least 25 percent of the donation will go for Palestinian refugees in Jordan, which hosts the largest number of Palestinians displaced in two wars with Israel since 1948. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency - established in 1949 to aid displaced Palestinians...

Those "Palestinian Refugees" Who are they, what is the real story? Although, in view of the violence of the Palestinians, negotiations with them would seem fruitless, or at least a long way off, one issue that will arise again is that of the "Palestinian refugees." It has been a sticking point in past negotiations and will without question arise again. These "refugees" are the children and mostly grandchildren of those who left Israel during the 1948 War of Independence. Yasser Arafat insists that there can be no peace unless those "refugees" are allowed to "return" to Israel. What are the...