UNRWA appeals for $26m to repair Palestinian camp in Syria

being allowed to be integrate into Syrian economic and social life? And why can't the Palestinian Arabs who reside in Syria, after all these years, need UNRWA and are not encourange to be productive members of society?

Secondly, must the person have lived there continuously from June 1946 to May 1948 (less than two years) or only part of the time - like, for instance, visiting a relative for a few weeks? And last, why are the descendants considered refugees - and to what generation? Throughout all time? It was at the time, and continues to be, a PR tool for the Arab states. Jordan, perhaps at the time the poorest of those states, was the only one to grant citizenship, and those refugees who have accepted it have mostly done pretty well and have contributed to Jordan. But Jordan could not absorb them all. And for those who keep reciting, by rote, the number of resolutions that Israel has supposedly ignored - to pass the UNRWA and all those other resolutions wasn't hard when one-third of UN member states are Arab and/or Muslim countries and a good number of the others rely on Arab/Muslim oil!

All refugees since WWII have come under the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) except for the Palestinians. At the insistence of the Arab nations UNRWA was founded just for them. In general, a refugee is one who is considered to have had a substantial interest (residence, means of income) in the land from which s/he has been forced to flee or has been ousted. To be considered a refugee under UNRWA, the person need only have been one "whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948" and "who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict" regardless of the reason for leaving. In addition, UNRWA defines as refugees all of the descendants of those who meet these two criteria. That leaves a whole lot of wiggle room. First, what is the area included under the name "Palestine?" (to be continued)

Pals are Arabs; Syrians are Arabs. There is only one Arab nation, although it is divided into several states. Why, therefore, are Pals still living in refugee camps in Syria sixty years after they left Palestine / Israel? How many Jewish refugees from the Arab world, Russia and Ethiopia have been integarted into Israeli society in the past sixty years?

wherever "palestinians" roam they leave a trail of blood. remember Black September when King Hussein of Jordan killed an estimated 10,000 palestinians who were trying to overthow his regime? palestinians in Lebanon can not bring in a piece of lumber after 59 years in camps, denied citizenship by their arab brothers, Iraq? they are being murdered by their arab brethren in homes Saddam placed them in, sitting on the border with Syria and Jordan waiting for the gates to open. nobody wants them, Israel unfortunately is stuck with them:from 2/09/07 news report:Israel tries to help the Palestinians as much as possible, Dror said. Last year, some 80,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and 40,000 from Gaza came to Israel for medical treatment they would not have received otherwise in the P.A. areas.

You are wrong in saying there isno right to return. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 13 affirms: "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and return to his country." The International Convention on Civil and Political Rights [Article 12(4)], states: "No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country." The Principle of Self Determination adopted by the UNdemands that "neither occupation nor sovereignty diminish the rights of ownership." The land and property of the refugees remains their own and they are entitled to return to it.UN General Assembly Resolution 194 has been has been affirmed by the UN over 130 times since its introduction in 1948 with universal consensus except for Israel and the U.S. Resolution 194 was further clarified by UN General Assembly Resolution 3236 which reaffirms in Subsection 2: "the inalienable right of Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced."

why not give them more money to buy explosives rather than food and shelter. sounds like an excellent plan. get real. these people should get nothing until they provide they will put it to good use. the PALs in gaza and west bank complain that they cant do anything becuase of israel. whats their excuse in leb?? is the leb govt oppressing them?? they simply dont want to improve anywhere in the world.

Who would have guessed? Maybe the Tutsi should have guessed. Why don’t they try building something permanent up there in Syria to live in instead of camps? After fifty years you would think they should apply for citizenship in the countries their grandparents were born in.

One of the biggest crimes against the Palestinian refugees has been the failure of the Arab world to accept and integrate them, with the exception of Jordan. There have been many refugees in the world; there have been almsot no isntances where a people are refugees 60 years later -- especially ironic where they fled to countries that share their religion, language and ethnicity. "Right of return" -- All refugees should be given the choice to stay as full citizens in their country of residence (and receive resettlement funds) or choose to return to a seperate Palestinian state when it is created. The world should pay attention to this.

Abe, nobody is sneering, we are all just stating facts. Palestinians are not the only refugees in the world. But in other places the refugees try and intergrate. Rightly so Israel allows Jews the world over the right of return. Like it or not Israel was created as a Jewish state. Constantly complaining about what Israel should or should not do for the palestinian "refugees" will not improve their lot. Israel will never let them in. They would be far better off trying to intergrate into any one of the many Arab/Muslim states of which they are a part instead of perpetuating their lives in squalor and misery.

Remember that scene in the sitcom 'Taxi?' Arabs treat palestinians like that. Denial of citizership for palestinians is universal among Arabs so they can 'preserve their original nationality'. A national identity they never had by the way. It is the Arab way of saying ...we don't want you as citizens in our nation and prefer to make you suffer so Israel looks bad. The 1965 Casablanca Protocol, which Syria ratified, stipulates that Arab countries should guarantee Palestinian refugees rights to employment, residency, and freedom of movement, whilst maintaining their Palestinian identity and not granting them citizenship. This is echoed in the Syrian legislation which stipulates that the granting of Syrian citizenship to a person of Arab origin normally depends on habitual residence in Syria and demonstration of financial support or livelihood, but that Palestinians, in spite of fulfilling this condition, are not granted citizenship in order to 'preserve their original nationality.'

Rather than continuing this endless dole for so-called "refugees" (are they all over 60 years old?), these "camps" throughout the ME should be closed and the monies given to the truely needy in Darfur, the sub-Sahara, tsunami relief and elsewhere. Palestinian freeloaders have been sucking up billions that are desperately needed elsewhere. Or...maybe the UN, in its spirit of "evenhandedness", should spend the $26 million on the 85,000 Jewish refugees from Syria, who never received a dime from UNWRA -- and continue to do so for the next 60 years, to even things out.

Palestinians are the only entity on earth designated by the UN as having PERMANENT refugee status. Millions of people lost their homes and former lives after WWII and all were reintegrated into the world population. Palestinians have been on PERMANENT welfare since 1948. Yet they having one of the highest birth rates (Iranian/Hmas fatwas play a big role in this) And as usual, the "leaders" of any group on welfare make billions off the subsidies. Arafat and his heir Abbas are no different.

1. Stop quotting this Ilan Pappe. He is a complete idiot who should live in any arab country which is ready to take him. This so-called academic wrote a whole bunch of niaiseries for his own agenda. Guess what it is. 2. The is not such a thing as the right of return. There is not such a thing as the right of return. Shall I repeat, or did you finally get the message? 3. You can be sure that the Palestinians, refugees, children of refugees, grand-children of refugees, and everyone who joined them, received 10 fold more than 12 billion dollars. And they still receive. And they still beg more. 4. Money does not frow on trees. You, oops sorry, I mean, I must work to earn it.

Introducing the world's largest chess game, starring the Palestinians as the pawns. Two little stories to tell you....a few years ago, I decided that I had enough and wanted a change of scenery and a new job. So I moved from one city to Toronto. That change gave me new opportunities. 60 years ago, my mom was born in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany. Shortly after that, her parents moved to Italy to leave the camp. You probably can't find any displaced persons still living in that camp. Now let's look at Syria. For some reason, you have Palestinians living in refuge camps. FOR 60 YEARS! either the Palestinians couldn't be bothered to move, enjoy playing the role of the victim OR Syria enjoys having them play the victim or is showing a severe form of apartheid (much worse than what Israel is doing). The Arab world is going to get carpal tunnel syndrome from all of their finger pointing.

It is time for them to move on, and their bretheren in these Arab countries should stop using them as pawns living in ghettos to gain leverage against Israel so that they can one day flood the Jews out with refugees.

$26 million divided up among the 18,000 "refugees" (even though we're talking about the 4th or 5th generation, so they're hardly refugees anymore) would be $1444.44 per person. Add in their regular UNRWA budget, give them the houses they own there and live in anyway, and they have enough to live normal lives, start businesses, etc... And let Syria grant them citizenship, since after nearly 60 years of living there, they're Syrians anyway. And replicate this throughout the Arab world. That's if they really want peace. If they don't, then let these people live in squalor, deny them citizenship even after the 5th generation lives there, even after 60 years. The Arabs need to once and for all take responsibility for their own actions. Israel, with very little land and almost no resources, took in our refugees of Arab aggression. The Arabs, with HUGE amounts of land and TRILLIONS in petro-dollars PLUS the present UNRWA, can and should do the same for THEIR victims of Arab aggression.

What a bunch of racists on this response! Stop sneering! The refugees are actually Israel's problem. They were driven out (as described in Ilan Pappe's book 'The ethnic cleansing of Palestine.) and Isarel has defied UN Resoluton 193 to allow them to return. All their villages and towns were destroyed under plan Dalet. While Jewish victims of the Holocaust received reparations (though disgracefully the Israeli banks have held onto nearly 12 Billion dollars while Holocaust vctims still live in penury) and are still claiming their property in Europe, the Palestinians were never given or offered compensation, and Israel has never acknowledged the Nakba. Even internal refugees are not allowed to return to their villages (eg Lifta). The right of Return must be addressed - it cannot be ignored - and some solution arrived at. Jews anywhere have aright to 'return?' when they have never lived in Israel or Palestine - while the indigenous residents are displaced!

Can you imagine the outrage if the camps were in Israel? These people are actively prevented from taking part in the educational, business and civil life in the Arab countries, by order of the Arab League. I have no doubt that the camps are in as parlous a state in all the other Arab countries. They wouldn't invest a dinar in looking after these miserable hounded people who are pariahs kept in pens in order to be a scourge against Israel. And, of course, they'll tell you that they 'like it' that way. They're brain washed into accepting their isolation and their deliberate poverty. Shande, vergogna, shame and Busha that the UN plays into their hands by perpetuating UNWRA

as per FOXNEWS here's a small detail from Iraq "Blast rips through athletic fields where boys, ages 10-15, were playing; officials not sure if kids were target" and this is just the beginning These are self-hating miserible people with evil agendas and only power and money on their warped minds.

insted of treating them like caged animals why not allow them the oportunity to become citizens of Syria and contribute to society? I bet if Syria says that they will give them citizenship Israel will even pay them reperations so they have money to start a new life.

Can you imagine the outrage of the world if Israel kept so-claled palestinian refugees in camps for 60 years? The UN should not give them a penny. After 60 years don't you think it's time for Syria and the other muslim countries to anty up and allow these people to become citizens of the host countries. Jewish refugees from arab countries coming to Israel became citizen immediately. There seems to be no end to muslim brutality - even to their fellow muslims.

This article is quite revealing about the mentality of both the syrian government and the palestinian refugees. Can you imagine 18,000 jew living for 60 years in a refugee camp without ever making any significant improvements to it? On the other hand, it is certainly possible that the syrian government has done all it can to forbid any improvements over the last 6 decades for its own political purposes, but in any case it is a sad commentary on the cultures and politics of both palestinians and syrians.

Instead of perpetuating the camps and using the "refugees" as pawns, the camps should be destroyed and the "refugees" intergrated into Syrian communities so that they can become constructive members of society.