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| International-UN-NGOs |
| Israel Not Invited to U.N. Conference on Refugees |
| 2004-06-13 |
| Israel Not Invited to UN Meeting On Refugees UNRWA, the UN agency charged with handling refugee camps from the 1948 war, held a conference last week on the "humanitarian needs of the Palestinian Arab refugees" - but did not invite Israel. David Bedein of Israel Resource News Agency, was the only Israeli reporter to cover the event. Excerpts from his report: "67 nations, 34 relief organizations, the Palestinian Authority and the PLO were invited to attend the conference, held at the UN’s plush international conference center in Geneva. Yet Israel was not invited to attend. Nor was any Israeli reporter invited to cover the event... I covered the conference anyway, since it would have been difficult for the UN to turn down press credentials that had been certified by a dues-paying UN member nation. "According to the UNRWA spokesman: Israel was not invited to this conference because Israel is not a contributing nation to UNRWA. Yet until a few years ago, Israel provided more than $750,000 dollars per annum to UNRWA, and exceeded the contribution of many of the Arab countries. So why not invite Israel to attend as an observer or a discussant? To that, UNRWA and the Swiss government had no answer... The PLO [sent] a senior delegation to the conference... yet UNRWA never asks for any contribution from the PLO. Long article. American tax money supports the UN’s shameful treatment of Israel. Strange that Palestinian refugees have their special agency, the UNRWA, whereas the other refugees of the world are lumped together and dealt with by another UN agency. |
| Posted by:rex |
| #1 Why bother to invite them? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-06-13 8:51:23 PM |