Navigating the Relief Status Quo

Submitted by Melinda Borne

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I arrived back in Washington, DC, about a week ago full of ideas about how to better serve our beneficiaries. Of course, these thoughts always lead to wishing that we had ten times more money to fund Palestinian relief and development projects. But the exercise also helped me organize my thoughts about our role as a humanitarian organization in the larger scope.

Palestinians waiting for aid

While UPA’s mission is to aid Palestinians in need, we're always debating the need for immediate emergency relief versus the long-view approach to development and economic empowerment. But we also have to be hyper-aware of the political storms that visit upon Palestinian suffering.

It can be a struggle to not become an agency that picks up the pieces left by occupation and war, or to not be accused of doing merely this. This is why the themes of connect, sustain, and empower are such useful reference points when aiding Palestinians -- to provide immediate needs, but also the tools for them to move forward. These themes ground me, it seems, and help me move forward. I've been thinking about this as I talk with my colleagues about reshaping and improving UPA’s programs.

Then yesterday I came across Paul McCann's article in the Palestine-Israel Journal about United Nations Relief & Works Agency's (UNRWA) role, and how they contend with serving refugees while facing accusations of accommodating the status quo.

UNRWA was created in December 1949 to serve Palestinian refugees following Israel's founding war in 1948. The agency was established “to prevent starvation and distress and to further the conditions for peace and stability.” As McCann notes, by the mid-1950s it was clear that the lack of a peace settlement as envisaged in UN Resolution 194 (regarding the rights of Palestine's refugees) doomed UNRWA's works and resettlement programs to failure, and there was never adequate funding from donor governments to execute them.

"From that point on," McCann writes, "UNRWA focused on developing the human potential of the refugees by giving them the healthcare, shelter and, in particular, the education to allow them to improve their own lives. It moved from a 'works' organization to a quasi-governmental human development agency -— but, crucially, it has no territorial authority, no legislative power and no jurisdiction over the refugees in its care."

So now, UNRWA is accused of trying to resettle refugees so that they will give up their desire to return to their homes in Palestine.

UNRWA is no stranger to such accusations. Shortly after Israel's recent 22-day offensive on Gaza, UNRWA was accused by US lobbyists and politicians of aiding Hamas -- one Dem-Rep from Nevada even called UNRWA "nothing but the face and arm of Hamas."

UNRWA is also unfairly politicized for advocating for the right to do its job. This was evident last February when an UNRWA oficial went to pains to point out to US Sen. John Kerry that "pasta is not regarded [by Israel] as humanitarian aid and is not allowed in to Gaza while rice is."

From a practical and humanitarian perspective, UNRWA has its niche and purpose, and it does its best to circumnavigate these political sirens. My personal interactions with UNRWA staff in Gaza recently validated the agency's commitment and integrity in a light that makes many of their detractors downright childish.

That said, I can appreciate how UPA is not as burdened by the whims of politicians and rankling discourse, but has the ability to choose where to deliver aid and who needs it most. More importantly, UPA isn't easily encumbered by the status quo, but can actively pursue solutions that empower Palestinians to carry out dignified lives in the meantime -- that is, until world leaders can make up their minds.

I've often heard Israel's settlement project termed a fait accompli -- facts on the ground that pre-empt any meaningful peace process. Our goal, as a humanitarian community, is to create a fait accompli of children who are educated; families who can provide; hospitals that can treat the sick, elderly and injured; all to ensure the dignified existence of Palestinians by the time a settlement is reached.