"Babies in Gaza are getting refugees status," MK Wilf stated. "Why are we collaborating with the Arab desire to perpetuate the conflict?"
(INN) Member of Knesset Einat Wilf (Independence Party) is calling for "restructuring UNRWA on the road to peace." In an interview with Israel National Radio's Josh Hasten she stated, "The continued existence of this organization and its operation to continue to manufacture refugees from the same old war doesn't signal peace."
The interview was conducted live on Hasten's Reality Bytes podcast.
UNRWA is the the "United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East." According to its website, the organization "provides assistance, protection and advocacy for some 5 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory, pending a solution to their plight. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states."
MK Wilf stated, "babies in Gaza are getting refugees status. They are under their own government. Why are we collaborating with the Arab desire to perpetuate the conflict?" MK Wilf said the desire for a "right of return" of refugees to enter within Israel's borders is contrary to the "two state solution." Such a solution calls for a separate State of Israel for those of Jewish ethnicity and a State of Palestine for those of Arab ethnicity. She commented that those who considered Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria to be an obstacles to peace should at least equally consider UNRWA's refugee camps to be so as well.
MK Wilf noted sarcastically the breakdown in amount of money that countries donate to UNRWA. "I love the fact that out of UNRWA's billion dollar budget the Islamic Bank, which represents the 56 Islamic states, gives $7 million," she said. "Those are countries that are helping their Arab brethren. The United States gives $250 million. The remainder of that budget is funded by various European countries, Australia, and Japan."
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