URNWA - Hamas investigation. Thread 2

The Palestinian right of return was enshrined in UNGA resolution 194 and UNSC resolution 237 which called upon Israel "to facilitate the return of those inhabitants who have fled the areas [occupied by Israel] since the outbreak of hostilities".

Israel said it “unreservedly accepts the obligations of the UN Charter and undertakes to honour them from the day when it becomes a member of the UN." When it became a member under UN resolution 273.

The UN Charter article 25 requires members to accept and agree to carry out UNSC resolutions.

Israel has picked and chosen which UNSC resolutions to accept, thereby violating the UN Charter it signed up to.

With this kind of attitude so prevalent , no wonder the settlers are so brazen. And no wonder Israel has been dancing its little peace dance for decades with no meaningful concessions to draw support away from Hamas and toward a workable peace solution .

Thank you for acknowledging that the Palestinians have no legal right to return.

The evidence of the UNWRA employees participating in the October 7th massacre was given to OIOS not the Colonna review. To be clear Colonna said;

“ allegations regarding individuals, a difficult one are in the scope of the OIOS mission. It is not the scope of our mandate. And by the way it is no surprise that Israel did not provide evidence to UNWRA because it doesn’t owe this evidence during the investigation to UNWRA, but to the OIOS.”

The evidence of the UNWRA employees participating in the October 7th massacre was given to OIOS not the Colonna review. To be clear, at a press conference Colonna said;

“ allegations regarding individuals, a difficult one are in the scope of the OIOS mission. It is not the scope of our mandate. And by the way it is no surprise that Israel did not provide evidence to UNWRA because it doesn’t owe this evidence during the investigation to UNWRA, but to the OIOS.”

The article is incorrect.

You are mixing up the Law of Return made by Israel - a sovereign country - and the so called ‘right’ of return. The Palestinians possess no such right.

They would say that though wouldn’t they?They wouldn’t quote wikipedia and say “Critics describe MEMRI as a strongly pro-Israel advocacy group that, in spite of describing itself as being "independent" and "non-partisan" in nature,[6][7][8] aims to portray the Arab world and the Muslim world in a negative light by producing and disseminating incomplete or inaccurate translations of the original versions of the media reports that it re-publishes.[9][10] It has also been accused of selectively focusing on the views of Islamic extremists while de-emphasizing or ignoring mainstream opinions.[11]” would they?

I am fascinated. I wonder how long Haniyeh was teaching for? He seems to have been a lecturer in literature before he became a full time terrorist. I wonder how that happened?

Haniyeh’s ancestral home was taken over by Israel- it had been allocated to the Arab state in the United Nations partition state but it was appropriated by Israel and so his parents became refugees in a refugee camp where he was born. He was active in the first intifada and was imprisoned three times as a young man, one of at least 57,000 Palestinians arrested for taking part. It’s possible the killing of 1000+ Palestinians in this intifada was a factor- about a quarter were children .About 20,000-30,000 children were beaten up by the Israelis.

Looking at his biography it would seem that these were seminal events. He was well on his way to being a leader of 30,000 ruthless terrorist fighters and a millionaire smuggler before any of his family were actually killed by the IDF. In fact it would seem that his rise to power was actually facilitated by the IDF who systematically and conveniently picked off the Hamas leaders in the ranks above him without making any meaningful political concessions on the ground. . I don’t think he spent too much time as a teacher- anyone have dates, locations?

My own grandfather was a primary school teacher who trained 150 men to fight the British in the Irish struggle for independence and then went back to teaching and growing tomatoes so I am genuinely fascinated by how someone could go from teacher to terrorist/ millionaire smuggler under the noses of the IDF. You start with a humble literature teacher and a few years later you have a terrorist overlord- how wrong have they got it and now they say they know how to deal with Hamas….

@Kindatired Do you believe this account of Ahmad Oueidat's words is incorrect? That he didn't say Ismail Haniyeh and Talal Naji taught in UNWRA schools? I doubt the co-founders actually translated that themselves and their researchers might not choose to jeopardise their reputation as a source of translation, information and analysis for over 20 years with deliberate mistranslation, as this is publicly available.

MEMRI has quite a large and varied Board of Advisors and Directors, including prior intelligence agents from multiple organisations and figures from government, media, law and academia. They're also pretty transparent about their objectives.
https://www.memri.org/about

Wouldn't most intelligence sources have a bad track record for accuracy and objectivity, as they're mostly working in the interests of the country, government or organisation they represent? I can't imagine many of them are known for their impartiality.

@RoastSquash
Hmmmm
Copious pinch of salt needed here before consumption
Wikipedia tells me “The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), officially the Middle East Media and Research Institute,[1] is an American non-profit press monitoring and analysis organization that was co-founded by Israeli ex-intelligence officer Yigal Carmon and Israeli-American political scientist Meyrav Wurmser in 1997. “
Israeli intelligence sources have a bad track record for accuracy and objectivity

Although I do very much agree with this at the present moment in time.

https://www.memri.org/tv/fmr-unrwa-official-ahmad-oueidat-schools-rise-palestinian-leadership-hamas-ismail-haniyeh-pflp-talal-naji

Israel tried to deliberately undermine UNRWA. Strong words from Ireland.

Mr Martin said Israel had wanted to undermine UNRWA because of its link to the return of Palestinian refugees following the Arab-Israeli War in 1948.
"UNRWA reflects the principle of the right of return of Palestinians in the event of a two-state solution.
"So, if you undermine UNRWA and remove UNRWA you essentially remove the right to return," he told reporters.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2024/0423/1445100-micheal-martin-middle-east/

@Alwayslookonthe regardless of differing views on legal and philosophical points, one very key reason exists as to why UNRWA should continue to be funded today and why its existence matters today: it has demonstrated time and again that it can get food and medicine to the people who need it.

All the other debating points can wait and be argued about for the next however many years. But starving people need food today. So UNRWA matters today. And so the withholding of life-saving funds and resources by governments matters today, too.

Thank you for the links @EasterIssland

Non binding and non legal I’m afraid.
Palestinians were not then and are not today citizens of Israel.

I always find it ridiculous that the right to return is valid if your ancestors lived on the land 2000 years ago, but if you are born in Palestine you have no right to return.

@Alwayslookonthe
Some of the dispossessed are still alive. 1948 is not the Iron Age. My own father was a middle aged man in 1948 and I have a secondary school age kid. Many of the Jewish Israelis are the descendants of people who left the region in the Iron Age but they can “return”. Some have even converted and have no connection to the region at all except spiritual .
So it seems that it’s antsemitic to deny the valid duty of Israel but the Palestinian right of return can be denied. This is why you have a terrorist problem I’m afraid

RTE news : UNRWA review finds neutrality issues persist at UN agency

http://www.rte.ie/news/middle-east/2024/0422/1445006-unrwa/

Good summary here. There are some issues that UNWRA needs to address but no evidence from Israel on links to Hamas and nothing that would justify countries halting aid. I hope UNWRA respond with their own case against Israel for defamation