Speech #1100131226

Nearly 60 years after the first of these camps were established. virtually nothing has been done to return this population to a settled existence. The 1.3 million Palestinians living in these camps live in a world of poverty. their daytoday existence solely reliant on international handouts. The history of Palestinian refugee problems clarifies why the Elon peace plan is so needed at this time: Following the Israeli War of Independence in 1948. hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced. At the time. hundreds of thousands of Jews fled also or were ousted from their homes in Arab lands. The U.N. established the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in 1949 to care for the Arab/Palestinian refugees. The U.N. has never created an agency solely to serve the interests of one displaced group of people. Many of the refugees do not even have historical roots in the territory now known as Palestine. Many of those residing In the West Bank are descendants of those who came from Syria and the TransJordan area. While the displaced Jews of the region settled in Israel and were integrated into the Israeli society. the Palestinians remain sequestered in these refugee camps. Why the Arab community that perpetually talks about the welfare of the Palestinians does nothing to relocate these people out of these camps is strange and. for many. its considered no mystery. Many of these regimes fought against Israel in 1948. seeking to destroy Israel. and their desire is to perpetuate the camps and to perpetuate the terrorism the camps breed. This. in my opinion. is unfortunate. and UNWRA is a U.N. agency established purportedly for the benefit of the refugees. However. in my opinion. it serves to perpetuate the terrorism problem. While UNWRA lets camp residents run their own activities. under its own oversight. the camps have become centers of terrorism. lawlessness. and crime. This further victimizes the Palestinians in the refugee camps who have no involvement in these criminal activities. Palestinian terrorists operate freely in many of these camps. coordinating attacks against innocent Israeli civilians and Palestinians who oppose their terror agenda. In 2004. the UNWRA commissioner.