Third Set of Rockets Found in UNRWA School

July 29th, 2014. UNRWA has found a third set of rockets in a one of their schools, according to Channel 2′s Ehud Yaari. We’re sure they’re shocked. UNRWA returned the first set of rockets to the local authorities (Hamas) and reappeared over Israel. The second set of rockets disappeared (presumably to somewhere over Israel). We’re now waiting to see what happens with this latest set of rockets. Israel has ample evidence that Hamas is using UNRWA schools and facilities for terrorist purposes, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzahi Hanegbi said Wednesday. Speaking at a press briefing in Jerusalem, he pointed out that on three separate occasions UNRWA itself has admitted that rockets were hidden in the basement of their facilities. “Who knows how many were not found,” he said, adding that this phenomenon was “totally unacceptable.” Each time that the rockets were found, he said, they were given back to Hamas and have probably already been fired at Israel, “endangering and jeopardizing Israeli lives.” “Instead of blaming and condemning Israel, UNRWA should make a real effort to stop being manipulated and used by the terrorist organizations.” While saying that over a span of decades UNRWA “has done a great job helping the Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip,” especially giving “blessed refuge for people leaving combat areas to save themselves,” the organization has failed to prevent its facilities from being used as terror headquarters and a hiding place for rockets. Health officials in Gaza said Wednesday that Israeli shelling killed at least 15 Palestinians sheltering in a UNRWA school in Gaza's biggest refugee camp on Wednesday. Some 3,300 Palestinians, including many women and children, were taking refuge in the building in Jabalya refugee camp when it came under fire around dawn, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said. "Our initial assessment is that it was Israeli artillery that hit our school," UNRWA chief Pierre Krahenbuhl said in a statement after representatives of the agency visited the scene and examined fragments, craters and other damage. An IDF spokeswoman said militants had fired mortar bombs from the vicinity of the school and troops shot back in response. The incident was still being reviewed. UNRWA: The Damage Done In three separate incidents since the start of Operation Protective Edge, schools in Gaza being run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were found to be stashing rockets – the very same rockets the IDF is trying to locate and destroy. In at least one of these cases, UNRWA returned the rockets they discovered to “local authorities” – Hamas – undoubtedly used them to launch attacks against Israeli civilians instead of handing them over to the Israeli army.

UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide various services to more than half a million Palestinian refugees after Israel’s War of Independence in 1948. But many people argue that UNRWA is fundamentally flawed, and has only exacerbated the issue of Palestinian refugees, who today number over five million. The status and future placement of Palestinian refugees is one of the fundamental obstacles to peace between Israel and its neighbors. And while the Palestinian Authority and Hamas continue to call for the return of all refugees to their original neighborhoods within Israel proper – a scenario which would effectively bring an end to the Jewish state – it is UNRWA that has kept this fantasy alive. All refugees across the globe – with the exception of Palestinian refugees – are tended to by the U.N. High Commission. This commission operates under guidelines established in 1951 and seeks to settle refugees as quickly as possible, and most frequently, in countries other than the ones from which they fled. UNRWA, whose only patrons are the Palestinians, states that those Palestinians who fled Israel in the course of the 1948 War, as well as their descendants, will retain refugee status so long as they do not return to the homes and villages from which they fled – villages and homes that no longer exist.

With over 30,000 personnel, many of whom are proud members of Hamas, UNRWA is the largest U.N. agency, and the only U.N. program dedicated to serving only one group of people – the Palestinians – in one specific region. The educational services provided by UNRWA perpetuate the conflict against Israel by demonizing and delegitimizing the Jewish state in textbooks. UNRWA-run schools and summer camps promote an ideology calling for continued armed struggle against Israel until “all of Palestine” is liberated – Tel-Aviv and Haifa included. It has funded and facilitated summer camps for tens of thousands of Palestinian children that offer military training, and has indoctrinated these children to hate all Jews by presenting speeches from Hamas leaders and glorifying suicide bombers. Considering that half of UNRWA’s multimillion dollar annual budget funds educational programs, this is a flagrant abuse of the donations it receives from the U.S. and the E.U. UNRWA supports and disseminates the most extreme and radicalized views found in Palestinian society. The damage they have done and continue to do to the possibility of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is immeasurable, and yet the West continues to blindly fund them. It’s no surprise that this U.N. program returns rockets found on their school premises to terrorists. What is shocking, however, is the continued U.S. and E.U. funding of such a major obstacle to peace and stability in the region. Read more: http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/articles/unrwa-the-damage-done#ixzz395FCOmxE Follow us: @StandForIsrael on Twitter | StandforIsrael on Facebook