Why do Palestinian refugees have a separate refugee agency?

Er, I started this thread to ask about UNWRA, that's the topic; do you think it should be absorbed into the UNHCR?

Sinwar was known as the Butcher of Khan Younis. He was known for killing and torturing with his bare hands. Maybe try and do a bit of both-siding

If you can't answer the question, just say so.

This has rather devolved into a tit for tat over whether Israel or Hamas has more responsibility for the conditions in Gaza.

How about reframing the original question as:

Is there a rational reason not to absorb UNWRA into the UNCHR which has responsibility for all other refugees worldwide?

Why is it that all other refugees come under the protection of the UNCHR and are resettled in another country if they cannot return home, but UNWRA keeps Palestinians in camps all over the Middle East and they are never offered the chance to resettle in their host countries?

Probably not wise to speak of transparency and accountability in the context of Israel when Netanyahu is standing trial on corruption charges but yes obviously terrorist organisations are neither transparent or financially accountable

Its a measure of a democracy that people who break the rules around transparency, corruption etc have to account for themselves in court. Which is what is happening.

Probably not wise to speak of transparency and accountability in the context of Israel when Netanyahu is standing trial on corruption charges but yes obviously terrorist organisations are neither transparent or financially accountable

Would you be able to post details on the aid Israel receives please?

Very obviously a point about transparency and accountability. Democratic states publish who they give aid to (including unwra) and receive aid from. Terrorists and their non-democratic backers dont.

Very obviously a point about transparency and accountability. Democratic states publish who they give aid to (including unwra) and receive aid from. Terrorists and their non-democratic backers dont.

Hamas on the other hand openly admits it expects UNWRA to look after its population
I will take your word for this but if you had a link to it I would be interested in reading it. Hamas are a terrorist organisation and like most similar organisations I am sure they are well embedded in the criminal and drug underworld to support and finance their activities and lifestyles.

You can look up the 100s of millions that go to UNWRA though.
What is the purpose of this comment? Whether you mean to or not it feels like you don't think UNWRA should be receiving this funding to support and sustain people in Gaza? Whether we like it or not the blockade and a useless governing body does mean support is needed like it is in many countries that we provide humanitarian assistence to. Their infrastructure has been continually destroyed for decades it costs a lot to rebuild, Gaza is now pretty much flattened with nearly every piece of infrastructure required to sustain a population, never mind enable them to flourish and thrive, is destroyed, so billions upon billons will now be needed to rebuild.

This doesnt address my point though. My point is that people keep asking why isn't Gaza thriving, where does all the aid money go, why haven't they built any infrastructure, why should Israel care when Palestinians don't even care enough to help themselves completely ignoring the billions of damage Israel cause to civillians infrastructure. If the essentials are being blown up every time you build them how can you ever progress past the essentials and move to a place where you are thriving. Why are so many posters ignoring the role that Israel have played in keeping Gaza under developed. The narrative seems to be that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and have had no responsibility for anything that has happened in Gaza since, it's not Israels fault that Hamas haven't decided to build any infrastructure completely omitting that infrastructure has been repeatedly built and then destroyed.

Obviously it makes you question why people are so hell bent on telling half a story that portrays Palestinians as undeveloped people, willing to live in an undeveloped place because they don't care enough about themselves to build anything when clearly that isn't the case or there wouldn't be billions of dollars of infrastructure for Israel to repeatedly destroy.

How would you destroy Gaza's vast military tunnel network, deliberately placed under and accessed via civilian infrastructure?

Most of us here aren't engineers so can't realistically answer that but I think the implication that the only option is to flatten an entire country and all its infrastructure is an extreme method of doing it and I'm sure with patience and planning a far more sustainable and less destructive method could have been found. Bombing doesn't seem to be solving it anyway

How would you destroy Gaza's vast military tunnel network, deliberately placed under and accessed via civilian infrastructure?

Israel seems to be expected to care more about the Palestinians than Hamas does.

Israel doesnt have to care about Palestinians but they do have to abide by International law. Do you think it is right for Israel to 'blow Gaza back to the Middle Ages' and cause $1.2billion worth of damage to civillians infrastructure like they did back in 2012?

The Hague Regulations and the Geneva Conventions prohibit “the unnecessary destruction of the enemy’s property,” and the “extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.”

Were Israel offering to pay for all the destruction that they have caused? Where exactly was 1.2billion to fix the civilian infrastructure Israel purposefully destroyed on 2012 supposed to come from? This is a long held tactic of Israel, as we saw in this current conflict the first thing they went for was There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel – everything will be closed.

Israel don't have to care but complaining about funding to Unwra, complaining that Hamas haven't done enough to develop Gaza whilst ignoring Israels policy of targeting civillians infrastructure with the aim of keeping Gaza underdeveloped or sending them to the 'middle ages' doesn't really wash.