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Contents:
Lawmakers Told of Alleged UN
Links to Middle East Terror www.cnsnews.com/ForeignBureaus/archive/200310/FOR20031002a.html (CNSNews.com) - Recently declassified documents by Israeli intelligence links United Nations workers with Middle East terrorist organizations, an Israeli journalist and social worker told Capitol Hill lawmakers Wednesday. David Bedein, bureau chief of the Jerusalem-based Israel Resource News Agency, said he has evidence to show the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is involved in military activity that therefore disqualifies it from receiving U.S. funds. "The UNRWA is directly involved in an educational system and a paramilitary system that encourages the right of return through all means, including violence. The UNRWA, instead of only being a service provider, has become a terror provider," Bedein said. In three years of the latest round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the United Nations agency responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza has not let up on its incitement of violence against the Jewish state, Bedein charged.
Maher Nasser, the UNRWA liaison at U.N. headquarters in New York, said Nasser was unaware of the substance of the latest allegations, but he said: "The allegation that the UNRWA is complicit or any of its staff or installations have been compromised by terrorism are absolutely baseless and completely fabricated, or unsubstantiated by facts." Nasser said the agency, which is primarily based in four countries in the Near and Middle East, does its utmost to ensure the neutrality and impartiality of its installations and holds its staff to standards of international staff conduct. "Whenever there have been any accusations about involvement or suspicious activities by anybody, the agency would take those seriously and investigate them," Nasser said. Bedein told CNSNews.com that he would present recently declassified Israeli intelligence documents linking 15 UNRWA officials with Hamas, which the U.S. State Department has listed as a terrorist organization, to staffers of the House International Relations Committee on Wednesday. The Israeli government sent the information to the U.S. Congress as part of a General Accounting Office (GAO) report commissioned by Congress earlier this year, Bedein said. Moreover, in a recent election for the UNRWA trade union, Hamas candidates received 85 percent of the vote, Bedein said, citing Hamas and Palestinian Authority publications. Bedein said he would substantiate his claims with 300 pages of news reporting on the issue, in addition to research his organization conducted in the UNRWA camps. US contributes a third of UNRWA budget The UNRWA was created by the U.N. to provide relief, health and education services to Palestinians who lost their homes and means of livelihood during the Arab-Israeli wars following establishment of the state of Israel in 1949. Today, the UNRWA is the major U.N. humanitarian agency in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza. The agency employs 23,000 officials -- the majority of whom are teachers responsible for 500,000 children -- including 11,000 officials in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As the agency's largest single donor, the United States last year contributed $109 million to the UNRWA's annual budget of about $300 million. In August, the United States authorized an additional special allocation of $26 million to the agency.
The House International Relations Committee adopted an amendment by Vice Chairman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) to the
"The UNRWA has a choice - it can either support peace or support terrorism, and its actions must correspond with its words," Smith said in Tensions between the UNRWA and Israel have been high since soldiers shot and killed one of the agency's British employees, Iain Hook, in November of last year during a gun battle with armed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Israelis said its soldiers mistook a cell phone Hook was using for a weapon. Nasser said Hook was one of eight UNRWA staff members killed in violence in the last three years; the others were Palestinians. According to documents seized by the Israelis during a raid on the Protective Security Service headquarters in Gaza City, Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and institutions in the Gaza Strip are involved in stealing basic food supplies and medicine provided by the UNRWA. The documents showed that PA officials sold food and medicine on the black market since 1996 and that food distributed by the UNRWA to residents of refugee camps in the Gaza Strip wound up in the hands of private merchants, who sold them on the black market. A GAO spokeswoman told CNSNews.com that the congressional report, which was begun in mid-April, was completed and would be made public on October 31 or November 3. Basically, the report will examine to what extent the State Department is complying with the relevant section of the Foreign Assistance Act, which forbids the United States from giving money to any agency engaged in military activity, and what procedures have been established to meet State Department standards for compliance, the spokeswoman said. This piece ran on CNSNEWS.COM on October 2, 2003
Delivering the UNRWA report to
the Canadian Parliament and the US Congress this Past Week
This week, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I traveled to the US and Canada in order to share vital data on the "right of return" agenda of UNRWA. This UN agency, which runs the Palestinian Arab refugee camps, has for over 50 years actively promoted the premise that refugees will return to Arab villages lost in 1948. It receives 95% of its budget from the leading democracies in the world: Canada chairs the committee that oversees the distribution of funds to UNRWA, while the US contributes close to one third of the UNRWA budget. I brought information about the programs of UNRWA to the attention of the staffers and elected officials in the Canadian Parliament and the US Congress, and to a senior staffer in the White House. My own concern with this issue reaches back decades now. As a social worker in the 70s and 80s, I was keenly aware of the squalor in which Arab refugees lived in the UNRWA camps; I saw their frustration and their rootlessness, as they waited to "return." Once I opened this news agency, and had the opportunity to interview top officials of UNRWA, I began to see the other side of the coin: the political agenda that made promotion of the "right of return" so important to the Palestinian cause. And it truly came full circle as I interviewed major leaders of the PLO, including Arafat. UNRWA policy serves the agenda of the PLO. That agenda has not changed an iota over the years, no matter what "peace plans" the PLO professes to support. The PLO is not concerned with "self determination." The PLO aims to dismantle and replace the State of Israel. This dismantlement is to be accomplished in part through a subversion, utilizing the principle of "right of return": Four million refugees (that is, purported refugees and their children and grandchildren) "going home." It's easy to be taken in: poor refugees, having nowhere to go, await the opportunity to simply return to where they came from. This is a basic human right, is it not? Isn't it recognized by General Assembly Resolution 194? Wrong, on both counts, though the well-oiled Palestinian propaganda machine would have you believe otherwise. The Palestinians even have maps by which they "demonstrate" that Israel has open spaces where the refugees might locate easily. Of course, these Palestinian propagandists are careful not to expose liberal sympathizers from democratic nations to discussions regarding what would happen with four million hostile Arabs inside of Israel. Those discussions are kept "in-house." At the barest minimum the demographics would eliminate the Jewish nature of the state. More likely there would be violence within. Either way, the destruction of Israel is the deliberate and intended result. If the Arab refugee population was settled, once and for all, outside of Israel, there would be no more "right of return" issue. If the mandate of UNRWA was changed so that generations of "refugees," who have been waiting in limbo, finally had permanency, the very core of the plan to dismantle Israel from within would be removed. And there is yet another ramification to current UNRWA policies and practices: Maintaining a population in a state of perpetual disfranchisement, and telling them they have a right to return to a place they lost to Israel and which is denied to them by Israel, fuels terrorism and overt threats to Israel. This happens because the UNRWA practices work in concert with Palestinian Authority (read PLO) goals. It is one of the ironies of history that the first entity since Nazi Germany to advocate the right to murder Jews was borne out of a "peace process." Until ten years ago, the idea of the "right of return" had been stressed in the UNWRA schools, but there was no real Arab military presence in the camps to demonstrate support for that idea. And until ten years ago, Israel actively prevented UNRWA schools and UNRWA facilities from demonstrating overt support for return to (no longer extent) Arab villages. However, since Israel withdrew its troops and civil administration from the areas in the West Bank and Gaza where UNRWA camps are located, UNRWA staffers who run the camps have had a new kind of latitude. Almost universally, they are supportive of Arab terrorist organizations. Witness the UNRWA camp union elections, where HAMAS gained control of the UNRWA clerks union and the UNRWA teachers union. UNRWA camps have been transformed into the battleground of an armed insurrection, where thousands of UNRWA camp residents brandish their weapons, to demonstrate their support for the murder of Jews who now live in Israeli towns and collective farms that have replaced the 531 Arab villages that were lost in 1948. Yet the US state department continues to ignore the fact that for a decade now the Palestinian Arab population has been taught to see a relationship between "right of return" and their divine obligation to go after Jews. The connection simply is not being made between UNRWA and the failure to achieve peace. "To think anew, to act anew," were words spoken by Abraham Lincoln on the morning of his tragic death. The time has come for the decision-makers of the United States and other western democracies to "think anew and to act anew." Will they continue to allow the policies of UNRWA to be sustained? Unless and until UNWRA policies and practices regarding "right of return" change, there will be no chance for peace and reconciliation in the Middle East. As the policies are halted, there must then be "deconditioning," as a prerequisite for true peace in the Middle East. The US-initiated de-Nazification program begun after World War II transformed Germany from a fascist regime into a democratic nation in one generation. This sort of peaceful transformation can be achieved again if Israel is permitted to do a re-education of the Palestinian Arab society that reverses the perspective taught by UNRWA policies.
Results of the UNRWA Union
Elections: Source: Al-Watan (Kuwait) 11 June, 2003 www.al-watan.com/data/20030611/index.asp?content=outstate2 Hamas followers won a remarkable victory in the elections to the clerks union of UNRWA in the Gaza strip gaining 23 out of the 27 seats. 6780 from among entitled 7616 clerks participated in the voting. Hamas followers achieved also 6 (out of 7) seats in the workers sector, 6 seats (out of 9) in the services sector and all 11 seats in the teachers sector. Their victory enables them to form the executive committee of the union comprising 9 members. Source: Filastin Al-Muslima (Lebanon) July 2003, p.5. www.fm-m.com\2003\jul2003\pdf\p5.pdf The Islamic Bloc affiliated with the Hamas movement won an overwhelming victory in the elections to the clerks [union] of UNRWA held on the 9th June 2003. More than 8000 clerks from teachers, services and workers sectors participated in the voting. The Hamas organization which gained 23 seats out of 27 in the elections to the three mentioned sectors, considered this victory as a evidence to the 'popular backing' of the Hamas and its ideology advocating the continuous armed struggle against Israeli occupation. The Islamic Bloc in the teachers sector gained all 11 seats allocated to this sector. Its candidates in the northern districts of [the] Gaza [strip] won 91.7% of the total vote. In Gaza [city] and Shati [refugee camp] areas they gained 57.04%; in central districts 88.04%; in Khan Yunis district 92.03% and in Rafah district 81.06%.
In the elections to the services sector the Islamic Bloc gained 6 seats out of the 9 allocated to all Gazan districts, while in the worker sector it achieved 6 out of 7 seats. Yusouf Abu Zubaida, the Islamic Bloc's candidate in Rafah district, attained 45.74% of the vote. Abd Aziz Daber, its candidate in Khan Yunis district won 60.07% of the vote. In Dir Al-Balah the Islamic Bloc candidate failed to win a majority. Muhamad Darwish, the PFLP's candidate won the election gaining 63.03% of the vote. The Islamic Bloc candidates in Nuseart (Ala Jaber) and Al-Bureij (Zaki Shoubier) won the election with 50.06 % and 43.84% respectively. Amir Atallah won a noticeable achievement in the election in the Shati refugee camp gaining 100% of the vote. Maher Zaqout, another candidate of the Islamic Bloc, achieved 85.85% of the votes in the northern districts of [the] Gaza [strip].
This is the Islamic Bloc's consecutive fourth victory since 1990 in the elections to the UNRWA clerks' union…Suhail Al-Hindi, who was elected in the teachers' sector as a representative of the Islamic Bloc, emphasized in response to the Islamic Bloc's decisive victory, the [broad] scope of support the Islamic movement enjoys in the 'Palestinian street'…He considered this victory as evidence of the "Palestinian Street support for this movement [Hamas] and its rejection to Abu Mazen's policy toward the cessation of the resistance against Israeli occupation"….The organizations which participated in the elections are: The Islamic Bloc [Hamas], the Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Palestinian Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PDFLP) and the Fatah movement.
Hamas Conference on the Grounds
of an UNRWA school Source: Hamas website, www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/dailynews/2001/july01/7-7/details.htm On July 6th 2001 the Hamas movement convened a conference in a school in the UNRWA Jabalya refugee camp (in Gaza) with the participation of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the school's administration, teachers and hundreds of students. The Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin presented his ideological doctrine to the junior high school students, as quoted below (according to the Hamas website): "This is the generation of liberation and victory…the Zionist enemy wants to overpower us and make us give up Palestine, Acre, Haifa, Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque, but this will not happen". In a speech to the audience, Saheil Al-Hindi, representing the teaching sector on behalf of UNRWA, praised Hamas student operatives (Ismaeel Ma'sawabi, Hamed Abu Hijla, Diya A-Taweel, Hussein Abu Naser) who carried out suicide attacks against Israel in recent months, emphasizing that: "The road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies". The Islamic Bloc, UNRWA, Gaza Source: Hamas website www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/dailynews/2001/july01/7-7/details.htm On July 6th 2001 the Hamas movement convened a conference in a school in the Jabalya refugee camp (in Gaza) with the participation of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the school's administration, teachers and hundreds of students. The Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin presented his ideological doctrine to the junior high school students, as quoted below (according to the Hamas website): "This is the generation of liberation and victory…the Zionist enemy wants to overpower us and make us give up Palestine, Acre, Haifa, Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque, but this will not happen". In a speech to the audience, Saheil Al-Hindi, representing the teaching sector on behalf of UNRWA, praised Hamas student operatives (Ismaeel Ma'sawabi, Hamed Abu Hijla, Diya A-Taweel, Hussein Abu Naser) who carried out suicide attacks against Israel in recent months, emphasizing that: "The road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies". Source: Al-Bayan (UAE), 31st July 2002. http://www.albayan.co.ae/albayan/alarbea/2002/issue143/axis/1.htm … UNRWA schools are greenhouses for suicide bombers. UNRWA director of activities in Jordan argued in that meeting of UNRWAs' teachers [held on 27th June 2002] that the majority of those who commit suicide missions in Palestine are UNRWAs' schools graduates born in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, which are under responsibility of UNRWA. The national anti-Israeli slogans and the education given to students [in the refugee camps] "are responsible to the transformation of them to delayed bombs"… Source: Al-Bayan (UAE), 31st July 2002. http://www.albayan.co.ae/albayan/alarbea/2002/issue143/axis/1.htm …UNRWA schools are greenhouses for suicide bombers. UNRWA director of activities in Jordan argued in that meeting of UNRWAs' teachers [held on 27th June 2002] that the majority of those who commit suicide missions in Palestine are UNRWAs' schools graduates born in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, which are under responsibility of UNRWA. The national anti-Israeli slogans and the education given to students [in the refugee camps] "are responsible to the transformation of them to delayed bombs"… Source: Islamic Block website (Gaza) http://www.islamicblock.com/sahwa_news/eighth_issue/sixth_page.html Announcement by the Islamic Block in UNRWA-Gaza …At this time when the Palestinian problem is heading toward precarious crossroad… the UNRWA directorate publishes from time to time decisions and publications, intended to threaten, insult and humiliate the clerks' sector… Any clerk working for UNRWA, wishing to become a devoted worker must to be blind deaf and mute. Moreover, he has to abstain from identifying with his homeland and religion; he is deprived from feeling what his people feel, rather being prosecuted in the name of the law and values?! …Some of the clerks were summoned for interrogation, warned and threatened with dismissal. This action urged our brothers in the clerks union to announce their collective resignation until UNRWA reconsider its position. Alas, UNRWA… has become an obedient instrument in the hands of the countries financing its activity. The Islamic Block in UNRWA emphasizes the following: I. Objection and condemnation of the measures taken by UNRWA… we strongly emphasize that we are an integral part of our Palestinian people, we have our feelings, homeland and religious identity… II. The senior foreign UNRWA officials are no more than clerks, they should acknowledge their limits, and should not overstep their authority, and they should be aware that they are in service of the Palestinian people and not its masters. III. It is necessary to unify and coordinate all efforts by the clerks, regardless of their political affiliation and attitude, in order to block the assault… IV. It is important to hold elections as soon as possible for the three sectors - workers, teachers and services… The Islamic Block, UNRWA, Gaza 7 April 2003 Source: Hamas website http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/dailynews/2001/july01/7-7/details.htm On July 6th 2001 the Hamas movement convened a conference in a school in the Jabalya refugee camp (in Gaza) with the participation of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the school's administration, teachers and hundreds of students. The Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin presented his ideological doctrine to the junior high school students, as quoted below (according to the Hamas website): "This is the generation of liberation and victory…the Zionist enemy wants to overpower us and make us give up Palestine, Acre, Haifa, Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque, but this will not happen". In a speech to the audience, Saheil Al-Hindi, representing the teaching sector on behalf of UNRWA, praised Hamas student operatives (Ismaeel Ma'sawabi, Hamed Abu Hijla, Diya A-Taweel, Hussein Abu Naser) who carried out suicide attacks against Israel in recent months, emphasizing that: "The road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies". Source: Al-Bayan (UAE), 31st July 2002. http://www.albayan.co.ae/albayan/alarbea/2002/issue143/axis/1.htm …UNRWA schools are greenhouses for suicide bombers. UNRWA director of activities in Jordan argued in that meeting of UNRWAs' teachers [held on 27th June 2002] that the majority of those who commit suicide missions in Palestine are UNRWAs' schools graduates born in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, which are under responsibility of UNRWA. The national anti-Israeli slogans and the education given to students [in the refugee camps] "are responsible to the transformation of them to delayed bombs"… Source: Islamic Block website (Gaza) http://www.islamicblock.com/sahwa_news/eighth_issue/sixth_page.html Announcement by the Islamic Block in UNRWA-Gaza …At this time when the Palestinian problem is heading toward precarious crossroad… the UNRWA directorate publishes from time to time decisions and publications, intended to threaten, insult and humiliate the clerks' sector… Any clerk working for UNRWA, wishing to become a devoted worker must to be blind deaf and mute. Moreover, he has to abstain from identifying with his homeland and religion; he is deprived from feeling what his people feel, rather being prosecuted in the name of the law and values?! …Some of the clerks were summoned for interrogation, warned and threatened with dismissal. This action urged our brothers in the clerks union to announce their collective resignation until UNRWA reconsider its position. Alas, UNRWA… has become an obedient instrument in the hands of the countries financing its activity. The Islamic Block in UNRWA emphasizes the following: I. Objection and condemnation of the measures taken by UNRWA… we strongly emphasize that we are an integral part of our Palestinian people, we have our feelings, homeland and religious identity… II. The senior foreign UNRWA officials are no more than clerks, they should acknowledge their limits, and should not overstep their authority, and they should be aware that they are in service of the Palestinian people and not its masters. III. It is necessary to unify and coordinate all efforts by the clerks, regardless of their political affiliation and attitude, in order to block the assault… IV. It is important to hold elections as soon as possible for the three sectors - workers, teachers and services… The Islamic Block, UNRWA, Gaza 7 April 2003 Source: Hamas website http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/dailynews/2001/july01/7-7/details.htm On July 6th 2001 the Hamas movement convened a conference in a school in the Jabalya refugee camp (in Gaza) with the participation of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the school's administration, teachers and hundreds of students. The Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin presented his ideological doctrine to the junior high school students, as quoted below (according to the Hamas website): "This is the generation of liberation and victory…the Zionist enemy wants to overpower us and make us give up Palestine, Acre, Haifa, Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque, but this will not happen". In a speech to the audience, Saheil Al-Hindi, representing the teaching sector on behalf of UNRWA, praised Hamas student operatives (Ismaeel Ma'sawabi, Hamed Abu Hijla, Diya A-Taweel, Hussein Abu Naser) who carried out suicide attacks against Israel in recent months, emphasizing that: "The road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies". Source: Al-Watan (Kuwait) 11 June, 2003 http://www.al-watan.com/data/20030611/index.asp?content=outstate2 Hamas followers won a remarkable victory in the elections to the clerks union of UNRWA in the Gaza strip gaining 23 out of the 27 seats. 6780 from among entitled 7616 clerks participated in the voting. Hamas followers achieved also 6 (out of 7) seats in the workers sector, 6 seats (out of 9) in the services sector and all 11 seats in the teachers sector. Their victory enables them to form the executive committee of the union comprising 9 members. Source: Filastin Al-Muslima (Lebanon) July 2003, p.5. www.fm-m.com\2003\jul2003\pdf\p5.pdf The Islamic Block affiliated with the Hamas movement won an overwhelming victory in the elections to the clerks [union] of UNRWA held on the 9th June 2003. More than 8000 clerks from teachers, services and workers sectors participated in the voting. The Hamas organization which gained 23 seats out of 27 in the elections to the three mentioned sectors, considered this victory as a evidence to the 'popular backing' of the Hamas and its ideology advocating the continuous armed struggle against Israeli occupation. The Islamic Block in the teachers sector gained all 11 seats allocated to this sector. Its candidates in the northern districts of [the] Gaza [strip] won 91.7% of the total vote. In Gaza [city] and Shati [refugee camp] areas they gained 57.04%; in central districts 88.04%; in Khan Yunis district 92.03% and in Rafah district 81.06%.
In the elections to the services sector the Islamic Block gained 6 seats out of the 9 allocated to all Gazan districts, while in the worker sector it achieved 6 out of 7 seats. Yusouf Abu Zubaida, the Islamic Block's candidate in Rafah district, attained 45.74% of the vote. Abd Aziz Daber, its candidate in Khan Yunis district won 60.07% of the vote. In Dir Al-Balah the Islamic Block candidate failed to win a majority. Muhamad Darwish, the PFLP's candidate won the election gaining 63.03% of the vote. The Islamic Block candidates in Nuseart (Ala Jaber) and Al-Bureij (Zaki Shoubier) won the election with 50.06 % and 43.84% respectively. Amir Atallah won a noticeable achievement in the election in the Shati refugee camp gaining 100% of the vote. Maher Zaqout, another candidate of the Islamic Block, achieved 85.85% of the votes in the northern districts of [the] Gaza [strip].
This is the Islamic Block's consecutive forth victory since 1990 in the elections to the UNRWA clerks' union…Suhail Al-Hindi, who was elected in the teachers' sector as a representative of the Islamic Block, emphasized in response to the Islamic Block's decisive victory, the [broad] scope of support the Islamic movement enjoys in the 'Palestinian street'…He considered the victory as evidence of the "Palestinian Street support for this movement [Hamas] and its rejection to Abu Mazen's policy toward the cessation of the resistance against Israeli occupation"….The organizations which participated in the elections are: The Islamic Block [Hamas], the Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Palestinian Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PDFLP) and the Fatah movement. Source: Al-Bayan (UAE), 31st July 2002. http://www.albayan.co.ae/albayan/alarbea/2002/issue143/axis/1.htm …UNRWA schools are greenhouses for suicide bombers. UNRWA director of activities in Jordan argued in that meeting of UNRWAs' teachers [held on 27th June 2002] that the majority of those who commit suicide missions in Palestine are UNRWAs' schools graduates born in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, which are under responsibility of UNRWA. The national anti-Israeli slogans and the education given to students [in the refugee camps] "are responsible to the transformation of them to delayed bombs"… Source: Islamic Block website (Gaza) http://www.islamicblock.com/sahwa_news/eighth_issue/sixth_page.html Announcement by the Islamic Block in UNRWA-Gaza At this time when the Palestinian problem is heading toward precarious crossroad… the UNRWA directorate publishes from time to time decisions and publications, intended to threaten, insult and humiliate the clerks' sector… Any clerk working for UNRWA, wishing to become a devoted worker must to be blind deaf and mute. Moreover, he has to abstain from identifying with his homeland and religion; he is deprived from feeling what his people feel, rather being prosecuted in the name of the law and values?! Some of the clerks were summoned for interrogation, warned and threatened with dismissal. This action urged our brothers in the clerks union to announce their collective resignation until UNRWA reconsider its position. Alas, UNRWA… has become an obedient instrument in the hands of the countries financing its activity. The Islamic Block in UNRWA emphasizes the following: I. Objection and condemnation of the measures taken by UNRWA… we strongly emphasize that we are an integral part of our Palestinian people, we have our feelings, homeland and religious identity… II. The senior foreign UNRWA officials are no more than clerks, they should acknowledge their limits, and should not overstep their authority, and they should be aware that they are in service of the Palestinian people and not its masters. III. It is necessary to unify and coordinate all efforts by the clerks, regardless of their political affiliation and attitude, in order to block the assault… IV. It is important to hold elections as soon as possible for the three sectors - workers, teachers and services… The Islamic Block, UNRWA, Gaza 7 April 2003 Source: Hamas website http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/dailynews/2001/july01/7-7/details.htm On July 6th 2001 the Hamas movement convened a conference in a school in the Jabalya refugee camp (in Gaza) with the participation of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the school's administration, teachers and hundreds of students. The Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin presented his ideological doctrine to the junior high school students, as quoted below (according to the Hamas website): "This is the generation of liberation and victory…the Zionist enemy wants to overpower us and make us give up Palestine, Acre, Haifa, Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque, but this will not happen". In a speech to the audience, Saheil Al-Hindi, representing the teaching sector on behalf of UNRWA, praised Hamas student operatives (Ismaeel Ma'sawabi, Hamed Abu Hijla, Diya A-Taweel, Hussein Abu Naser) who carried out suicide attacks against Israel in recent months, emphasizing that: "The road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies".
UNRWA director in Jordan: Source: Al-Bayan (UAE), 31st July 2002. http://www.albayan.co.ae/albayan/alarbea/2002/issue143/axis/1.htm …UNRWA schools are greenhouses for suicide bombers. UNRWA director of activities in Jordan argued in that meeting of UNRWAs' teachers [held on 27th June 2002] that the majority of those who commit suicide missions in Palestine are UNRWAs' schools graduates born in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, which are under responsibility of UNRWA. The national anti-Israeli slogans and the education given to students [in the refugee camps] "are responsible to the transformation of them to delayed bombs"… Source: Islamic Block website (Gaza) http://www.islamicblock.com/sahwa_news/eighth_issue/sixth_page.html Announcement by the Islamic Block in UNRWA-Gaza At this time when the Palestinian problem is heading toward precarious crossroad… the UNRWA directorate publishes from time to time decisions and publications, intended to threaten, insult and humiliate the clerks' sector… Any clerk working for UNRWA, wishing to become a devoted worker must to be blind deaf and mute. Moreover, he has to abstain from identifying with his homeland and religion; he is deprived from feeling what his people feel, rather being prosecuted in the name of the law and values?! Some of the clerks were summoned for interrogation, warned and threatened with dismissal. This action urged our brothers in the clerks union to announce their collective resignation until UNRWA reconsider its position. Alas, UNRWA… has become an obedient instrument in the hands of the countries financing its activity.
The Islamic Block in UNRWA emphasizes the following:
The Islamic Block, UNRWA, Gaza Source: Hamas website http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/dailynews/2001/july01/7-7/details.htm On July 6th 2001 the Hamas movement convened a conference in a school in the Jabalya refugee camp (in Gaza) with the participation of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the school's administration, teachers and hundreds of students. The Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin presented his ideological doctrine to the junior high school students, as quoted below (according to the Hamas website): "This is the generation of liberation and victory…the Zionist enemy wants to overpower us and make us give up Palestine, Acre, Haifa, Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque, but this will not happen". In a speech to the audience, Saheil Al-Hindi, representing the teaching sector on behalf of UNRWA, praised Hamas student operatives (Ismaeel Ma'sawabi, Hamed Abu Hijla, Diya A-Taweel, Hussein Abu Naser) who carried out suicide attacks against Israel in recent months, emphasizing that: "The road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies". Source: Al-Watan (Kuwait) 11 June, 2003 http://www.al-watan.com/data/20030611/index.asp?content=outstate2 Hamas followers won a remarkable victory in the elections to the clerks union of UNRWA in the Gaza strip gaining 23 out of the 27 seats. 6780 from among entitled 7616 clerks participated in the voting. Hamas followers achieved also 6 (out of 7) seats in the workers sector, 6 seats (out of 9) in the services sector and all 11 seats in the teachers sector. Their victory enables them to form the executive committee of the union comprising 9 members. Source: Filastin Al-Muslima (Lebanon) July 2003, p.5. www.fm-m.com\2003\jul2003\pdf\p5.pdf The Islamic Block affiliated with the Hamas movement won an overwhelming victory in the elections to the clerks [union] of UNRWA held on the 9th June 2003. More than 8000 clerks from teachers, services and workers sectors participated in the voting. The Hamas organization which gained 23 seats out of 27 in the elections to the three mentioned sectors, considered this victory as a evidence to the 'popular backing' of the Hamas and its ideology advocating the continuous armed struggle against Israeli occupation. The Islamic Block in the teachers sector gained all 11 seats allocated to this sector. Its candidates in the northern districts of [the] Gaza [strip] won 91.7% of the total vote. In Gaza [city] and Shati [refugee camp] areas they gained 57.04%; in central districts 88.04%; in Khan Yunis district 92.03% and in Rafah district 81.06%.
In the elections to the services sector the Islamic Block gained 6 seats out of the 9 allocated to all Gazan districts, while in the worker sector it achieved 6 out of 7 seats. Yusouf Abu Zubaida, the Islamic Block's candidate in Rafah district, attained 45.74% of the vote. Abd Aziz Daber, its candidate in Khan Yunis district won 60.07% of the vote. In Dir Al-Balah the Islamic Block candidate failed to win a majority. Muhamad Darwish, the PFLP's candidate won the election gaining 63.03% of the vote. The Islamic Block candidates in Nuseart (Ala Jaber) and Al-Bureij (Zaki Shoubier) won the election with 50.06 % and 43.84% respectively. Amir Atallah won a noticeable achievement in the election in the Shati refugee camp gaining 100% of the vote. Maher Zaqout, another candidate of the Islamic Block, achieved 85.85% of the votes in the northern districts of [the] Gaza [strip].
This is the Islamic Block's consecutive forth victory since 1990 in the elections to the UNRWA clerks' union…Suhail Al-Hindi, who was elected in the teachers' sector as a representative of the Islamic Block, emphasized in response to the Islamic Block's decisive victory, the [broad] scope of support the Islamic movement enjoys in the 'Palestinian street'…He considered the victory as evidence of the "Palestinian Street support for this movement [Hamas] and its rejection to Abu Mazen's policy toward the cessation of the resistance against Israeli occupation"….The organizations which participated in the elections are: The Islamic Block [Hamas], the Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Palestinian Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PDFLP) and the Fatah movement. Source: Al-Bayan (UAE), 31st July 2002. http://www.albayan.co.ae/albayan/alarbea/2002/issue143/axis/1.htm …UNRWA schools are greenhouses for suicide bombers. UNRWA director of activities in Jordan argued in that meeting of UNRWAs' teachers [held on 27th June 2002] that the majority of those who commit suicide missions in Palestine are UNRWAs' schools graduates born in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, which are under responsibility of UNRWA. The national anti-Israeli slogans and the education given to students [in the refugee camps] "are responsible to the transformation of them to delayed bombs"… Source: Islamic Block website (Gaza) http://www.islamicblock.com/sahwa_news/eighth_issue/sixth_page.html Announcement by the Islamic Block in UNRWA-Gaza At this time when the Palestinian problem is heading toward precarious crossroad… the UNRWA directorate publishes from time to time decisions and publications, intended to threaten, insult and humiliate the clerks' sector… Any clerk working for UNRWA, wishing to become a devoted worker must to be blind deaf and mute. Moreover, he has to abstain from identifying with his homeland and religion; he is deprived from feeling what his people feel, rather being prosecuted in the name of the law and values?! Some of the clerks were summoned for interrogation, warned and threatened with dismissal. This action urged our brothers in the clerks union to announce their collective resignation until UNRWA reconsider its position. Alas, UNRWA… has become an obedient instrument in the hands of the countries financing its activity. The Islamic Block in UNRWA emphasizes the following: I. Objection and condemnation of the measures taken by UNRWA… we strongly emphasize that we are an integral part of our Palestinian people, we have our feelings, homeland and religious identity… II. The senior foreign UNRWA officials are no more than clerks, they should acknowledge their limits, and should not overstep their authority, and they should be aware that they are in service of the Palestinian people and not its masters. III. It is necessary to unify and coordinate all efforts by the clerks, regardless of their political affiliation and attitude, in order to block the assault… IV. It is important to hold elections as soon as possible for the three sectors - workers, teachers and services… The Islamic Block, UNRWA, Gaza 7 April 2003 Source: Hamas website http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/dailynews/2001/july01/7-7/details.htm On July 6th 2001 the Hamas movement convened a conference in a school in the Jabalya refugee camp (in Gaza) with the participation of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the school's administration, teachers and hundreds of students. The Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin presented his ideological doctrine to the junior high school students, as quoted below (according to the Hamas website): "This is the generation of liberation and victory…the Zionist enemy wants to overpower us and make us give up Palestine, Acre, Haifa, Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque, but this will not happen". In a speech to the audience, Saheil Al-Hindi, representing the teaching sector on behalf of UNRWA, praised Hamas student operatives (Ismaeel Ma'sawabi, Hamed Abu Hijla, Diya A-Taweel, Hussein Abu Naser) who carried out suicide attacks against Israel in recent months, emphasizing that: "The road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies". Source: Al-Bayan (UAE), 31st July 2002. http://www.albayan.co.ae/albayan/alarbea/2002/issue143/axis/1.htm UNRWA schools: Greenhouses for suicide bombers. UNRWA director of activities in Jordan argued in that meeting of UNRWAs' teachers [held on 27th June 2002] that the majority of those who commit suicide missions in Palestine are UNRWAs' schools graduates born in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, which are under responsibility of UNRWA. The national anti-Israeli slogans and the education given to students [in the refugee camps] "are responsible to the transformation of them to delayed bombs".
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