UNRWA's Ghastly Proposal for Extra Funding

The outgoing chief of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Peter Hansen, who ranks among the worst administrators the U.N. has ever known (and that is saying something), today put forward a proposal to provide US$1.1 billion in extra funding for UNRWA. As I argued in "[UNRWA:] The Refugee Curse," the last thing Palestinians need is more dole from the outside. The first thing they need to do is liberate themselves from the accursed and anomalous refugees status, then take responsibility for their own lives. If Hansen has his way, Palestinians will be mired ever longer and more deeply in victimhood, dependence, radicalism, and violence. (February 24, 2005)