Speech #910310453

In the light of these differences. arrangements have been made for special added donations to the amount of $150.000 (dollars) which meets the costs of any rations consumed by the young men in question. The CommissionerGeneral is satisfied that these arrangements provide a practical means of disposing of the problem in so far as the Agency is concerned. Contributors to UNRWA. who may have been concerned about this matter. may thus be assured that their contributions will not be used to furnish assistance to refugees receiving military training under the auspices of the PLO. This situation continued unchallenged. but as time went on the terrorist organizations became bolder in their operations in the UNRWA camps. which were transformed into centers for recruitment and the training of Arab terrorists. There was a glaring climax during the Jordanian civil war. The PLO units had entrenched themselves in refugee camps which became battlegrounds. Many refugees as a result were killed and left homeless In the fighting. UNRWA estimates that there are 1.425.219 refugees in Egypt. the Gaza Strip. Jordan. the West Bank. the Golan Heights and Lebanon. It also estimates. as stated in hearings before Congress concerning the Foreign Assistance Act in 1965. that the proportion of ineligibles drawing rations may be as high as a thirdSecretary Rusks estimateto onehalf in the four host countries. Although the agency has made efforts to remove from Its lists people that have died. are illqualified or are absentee. it has failed substantially if its own estimates of refugee ineligibles is correct. The Agency has contributed to the feeding of military personnel at the expense of some 324.187 children in east Jordan. on the West Bank. in Lebanon and Syria and in the Gaza strip for which no rations are available on a permanent basis. The agency has subsidized the very terrorism that the U.N. is desperately trying to combat. has subsidized those organizations bent upon destroying what ever chances there are for peace in the Middle East. The agency. through its support for the PLO. has contributed to the increasing militarization and politicization. both of which are counterproductive to the agencys efforts and work. The agency is certainly guilty of substantial failures in its administration of the refugee relief program. There is an urgent need to overhaul UNRWA. The U.N. agency should not be allowed to operate as a political and military instrument.