File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_1997/aut-op-sy.9709, message 40


Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 11:48:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chris <red-AT-iww.org>
Subject: AUT: Refugees Strike Against UNRWA on Sept 9 (fwd)


you have to scroll down a ways until the original text appears --Chris

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: MID-EAST REALITIES <mer-AT-MiddleEast.Org>
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: Refugees Strike Against UNRWA on Sept 9
Date: 8 Sep 1997 14:40:03 GMT
Message-ID: <5v12o3$16r8$1-AT-news.missouri.edu>
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                                  REFUGEES SRIKE AGAINST UNITED NATIONS
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                PALESTINIAN REFUGEES STRIKE AGAINST
                   THE UNITED NATIONS - FINALLY

MER - Washington - 7 September:
   Whatever the original intentions of the United Nations, for years
now the U.N. has been used and manipulated by the U.S. and Israel.
   In Lebanon, the U.N. has been terribly abused, the Qana massacre
last year the culmination of years of Israeli arrogance and violence.
   At the time of the Gulf War the U.N. inexcuseably allowed itself
to become twisted into an appendage of American policy.
   At U.N. Headquarters, the American veto, Israeli disdain, and
ongoing indifference and cowardice on the part of so many, have
paralyzed the organization from seriously dealing with one of the
most important threats to international peace and justice; one which
the U.N. itself helped bring about.  And in recent years the U.N. has
allowed itself to be pushed aside after decades of involvement and
scores of resolutions, for a duplicitous American "peace process".
   Indeed, with the shocking American dismissal of Butros Ghali and
annointment of Kofi Annan last year, the very independence of the
U.N. is more in question than ever.
   And now, finally, in the refugee camps of the Middle East where
the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been engaged
for some 50 years, the refugees themselves are protesting, realizing
that as with so many things about the Middle East, words are often
in contradiction to actions, and institutions, as well as individuals,
are all too often corrupted and twisted beyond recognition.
   Though it is not likely the Palestinian refugees as currently
organized are going to be able to have a serious impact, even so they
are to be congratulated for finally organizing themselves to protest --
especially doing so under the extremely difficult, almost
incomprehensively difficult, conditions they face.
   The following leaflet explaining the upcoming protest and strike has
been issued by the "Union of Youth Activity Centers/West Bank".

                PALESTINIAN REFUGEES CALL FOR STRIKE
                           AGAINST UNRWA

"While our people suffer from the closure and its dangerous reflections
on their daily lives, their economical situation, and their spirit, the
so-called  Refugees' Relief Agency aggravates the effects of the closure
by reducing its services to refugees who - as a result of expulsion and
harsh economical and social conditions - represent the social sector
most exposed to suffering.

The steps taken by the so-called Refugees' Relief Agency coincide with
and are in harmony with the [Israeli] closure policy, from which the
occupied territories and the PNA areas have suffered since long. This
confirms that UNRWA is part and parcel of the political scheme, and that
- especially since the Madrid conference - the Agency has played that
suspicious role of which we have warned several times; a role which is
in complete harmony with the plans to end the Palestinian refugee
question by disregarding all internationally legitimized resolutions,
the foremost among them Resolution 194 on the refugees' right of return.

We of the Union of Youth Activities Centers in the West Bank and in
Gaza, with all the popular committees inside the refugees camps and the
women, youth, and student committees who support us, we [as part of] the
Palestinian people in general, whether inside Palestine or in the
diaspora, warn the so-called Refugees' Relief Agency to abstain from
taking this role and ask it to remember its main task, i.e. the
provision of "relief". For this aim UNRWA was established in late 1949,
and it continues to be obliged to fulfill this role, until a just
solution for the refugee question is reached.

On this occasion, we unite our voices and our energy on behalf of all
the positive initiatives and public activities which stand up against
the new policy of UNRWA. We express our deep condemnation and protest
against this silly policy, and we will make all efforts to develop the
spirit of protest and popular refugee mobilization, as well as the
broad Palestinian national commitment to our cause. We, from our side,
thus state the following facts, suggestions, and recommendations:

1) Unification of efforts and improvement of coordination among all
refugee activities, frameworks, and leaderships must be obtained by
means of a general popular conference so as to enable us to stand
strong against the dangers facing the refugees.

2) Objections against such conferences raised in the past must be
re-evalutated. We must rid ourselves of fears and insist on the
necessity of building a refugee body able to stand up against the
UNRWA policy and to follow-up the refugees' recommendations of al
Far'ah, Deheishe and Gaza. This even more so now, when the current
situation proves the correctness of these recommendations.

3) Immediate emergency efforts must be made for the establishment of
a High Council of Refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which will
supervise the implementation of our program of action and defend
refugee rights.  Refugees, on the other hand, must be bound by its
decisions.

4) The decisions taken in the refugee workshop in Jericho on 26 April
1997 must be implemented, i.e. elections of popular committees must be
held in the refugee camps.

5) It is necessary to separate between the financial support provided by
the donor countries to the PNA on the one hand, and to UNRWA on the
other.  Donors must give preference to the UNRWA budget due to their
responsibility for the Palestinian refugee question.

6) We demand from the Arab host countries to coordinate closely among
each other and with the PLO on matters pertaining to the Palestinian
refugee question in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and in the PNA areas.

7) Refugee protest must be strengthened and maintained so as to
re-instate UNRWA services. The Agency must be obliged to provide all
those education and health services, employment, and food support which
both UNRWA and the donor countries were committed to provide in the
past.

8) We reject and resist the policy of vertical building in the camps,
because it is not fit for dealing with the increasing density and the
growth of the population there. We demand efforts for expanding the
limits of the camps, e.g. by renting new lands and by extending UNRWA
services to the new areas.

9) The struggle for free secondary education must be developed, and the
problem of the rising number of students in the classes must be solved
by adding new classes; new job opportunities for refugees must be
created.
The struggle for free health services in public and private clinics and
hospitals must continue. The patient's right to free access to treatment
in these clinics and hospitals must be protected.

10) We consider December 9, 1997 - the day of the meeting of donors and
Arab host countries in Amman - as a day of general strike of all UNRWA
affiliated services, such as health and educational institutions. We
invite UNRWA employees to join the refugee population in their strike on
this day and to explain the dangers of the new UNRWA policy.

                Union of Youth Activity Centers/West Bank
                Qalandia Refugee Camp, 28 August 1997

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