The UN Coordinator For Palestinian Appeals

The United Nations has many special agencies and offices devoted uniquely for the Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs), a non-member entity. The most infamous is UNRWA, an agency which gives aid to the descendants of Palestinian refugees and other people who live in the area, which is distinct from the UNHCR which handles every actual refugee fleeing wars around the world. The global body also has an office devoted to Palestinians which is marketed as “Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO).”

At the UN, the “Middle East Peace Process” has nothing to do with giving Israel an iota of security, aid, defense or support. It is solely about giving SAPs money, programming, infrastructure and a new country.

Money, Money, Money

A wonderful example can be seen in the November 17, 2021 UNSCO report. The 15 page report reviewed the financial crisis of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and suggested remedies. Israel was mentioned in the report a few times, mostly in regards to either positive or negative actions it took in relation to the PA economy.

At paragraphs eight and nine, the tension between between Israel and the PA – including fighting in May 2021 and steps taken to reduce tensions – was broached. It was a delayed but welcome sign that the office tasked with “Middle East Peace” would actually discuss the topic and make constructive suggestions. Alas, by paragraph ten – and for the remainder of the document – UNSCO could only describe the financial situation of the PA.

The report laid out its grand view of the core problem (presumably to peace) and then an action plan to address those issues:

“Nevertheless, a piecemeal approach to addressing these challenges, along with a lack of progress on the broader political issues, risks perpetuating a continuous cycle of crisis management. Rather, to stabilize the economic and security situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in and around Gaza, and to strengthen the fiscal situation of the PA and its institutions, a broader framework of engagement—including parallel steps by all parties—needs to be re-established between the Government of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the international community. This will allow for moving beyond the current impasse and refocusing on building an independent, democratic, contiguous, viable, and sovereign Palestinian State living side-by-side with Israel in peace and security.
The present report to the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee charts out a framework for stabilizing the economic and security situation, undertaking reforms, and promoting development. We propose a three-track approach focusing on initiatives to 1) address the immediate economic and fiscal situation facing the PA and strengthen PA institutions and basic service delivery, 2) solidify the cessation of hostilities and support economic development in Gaza, and 3) generate longer-term economic growth and sustainable livelihoods across the OPT. Some of these initiatives are already underway, but other initiatives need urgent donor support or policy changes from the parties.”

The goal of the report, as highlighted above, is to build a Palestinian State. The three courses of action to achieve such mission are all about supporting the financial condition of 1) the PA, 2) Gaza and 3) the West Bank. The rest of the report provided recommendations for building the PA economy and then appealed for money for Palestinians.

Genocidal Jihadists

With such an approach – throwing additional billions of dollars at Palestinian Arabs – without addressing core issues blocking peace such as systemic antisemitism, denial of Jewish history and rights, incitement to violence and refusal to coexist with Jews, the report from the UN office tasked with Middle East Peace read like a donor appeal pamphlet rather than a roadmap for coexistence.

In regards to pursuing “peace” the report offered the following as hurdles:

“Meaningful progress, however, will be impossible without resolving the broader context: a grim reality of military occupation, violence, internal Palestinian divisions, illegal settlement expansion, demolitions, displacement, settler-related violence, and the ever-present threat of escalation, including rocket attacks by armed groups, in the Gaza Strip. The continued deterioration on the ground threatens not only Palestinian development and the enjoyment of human rights, but also makes building a Palestinian state and achieving a lasting peace more difficult.“

According to the UN office devoted to peace, the obstacles to peace are solely Israeli actions and the division between Fatah and Hamas/ the West Bank and Gaza. The “threat of escalation” towards violence is from unnamed “armed groups in the Gaza Strip.” This is outrageous on multiple levels and speaks to the heart of the failure of the UN to advance peace in the region.

The Palestinians do not want negotiations. They do not want a two state solution. They want war. They want to kill Israeli civilians. They elected a Holocaust denier to be their president, and a terrorist group with the most anti-Semitic charter ever written to a majority of their parliament.

The UN willfully ignores this reality and advocates for throwing money at the anti-Semitic jihadists in the belief that it will make them change their minds and pursue peaceful coexistence.

It’s worse than willful ignorance. It’s a coverup, a sanitization of the core problems.

The report called for aid to Gaza in regards to materials and money in a manner that will avoid “diversions.” The casual phrase the report used twice obfuscates the nefarious actions of Hamas which uses the materials and money to kill Jews.

So it’s actually worse than a coverup. The UN seeks to empower these genocidal jihadists, if not openly and directly, then at least indirectly.

That’s why the report did not name the political-terrorist group Hamas and just generic “armed groups” from Gaza. That’s why it bemoaned the “internal Palestinian divisions.”

It’s a disgrace that in a three step plan for promoting peace, UNSCO did not demand the end of Hamas and the handing over of all its weapons to the PA. Those should be priority items one and two.

Ignoring Israelis, Even Those Murdered by Terrorists

A document and office about peace should have a basic understanding that there are two parties to consider. When writing about children’s trauma from the cycles of violence, the report only discusses the kids in Gaza. What about the kids in Israel who live under the rain of missiles and arson kites overhead and terrorist tunnels underground? Is their safety and trauma not important?

Nothing encapsulates the complete disregard for Israeli lives as much as the discussion in the report around so called “prisoner payments.” These are funds that the PA pays to the families of Arab terrorists who attack Israelis, essentially paying for terror. The US, European Union and other countries have lambasted the PA for this activity which incentivizes violence.

Rather than explicitly call out the noxious incitement, the report notes that Israel’s deduction of tax receipts in the same amount of the terror payments hurts the Palestinian economy!

“From January through June 2021, based on 2018 legislation, Israel was deducting and holding NIS50 million per month from the transfer of clearance revenues delivered to the Palestinian Authority in response to the “prisoners payments.” Starting in July, the monthly deductions were increased to NIS100 million. These monthly deductions represent a
significant strain on the Palestinian fiscal situation. The payments made to Palestinian prisoners, their families, or the families of those killed or injured in the context of attacks also greatly complicate Palestinian relations with Israel and key donors. International technical assistance could help the Palestinian Authority instead strengthen its existing cash transfer program that targets the most vulnerable Palestinian households.“

That this report can be published under the title of “peace” by the United Nations is an outrage. It effectively summarized all one needs to know about how the UN views Israeli lives and security. The maimed Israeli civilians are insignificant and not even an worthy of mention. Dead Jewish children are not even an afterthought in the quest to fund Palestinians. The UN is worried about the Arab terrorists “killed or injured in the context of attacks” on Jews, and the financial impact to their families, inverting the perpetrator to a victim, and the Jewish souls to the dustbin.

If the UN wants to promote two states living side-by-side in peace, it should lambast the “prisoner payments,” and pay to fix and strengthen the security fence between Israel and Gaza, as well as the bomb shelters in schools and playgrounds in Israel. It should fund counseling for Israeli children suffering from trauma due to the genocidal jihadists living next door, rather than continue to support those terrorists, thereby adding to the kids’ distress.

*Tor Wennesland of UNSCO meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh. The UNSCO Twitter feed is solely devoted to Palestinians without any meetings or concerns for Israelis.*

The Appeal

The report concludes as one would expect – an appeal for money for Palestinians:

“As always, we stand ready to assist the PA with its own ambitious reform and development agenda, as articulated at successive donor meetings and in the renewed National Development Plan. In support of these efforts, the UN will continue consulting with our international partners and with the Palestinian Authority to implement an integrated response strategy to the ongoing crises, such as the framework proposed above.“

UNSCO lost all semblance of being an office to promote peace between two parties and noted that it stands ready to assist only one party – the Palestinian Authority – raise money. That’s what the United Nations has essentially become – a redistribution arm which seeks to boycott Israel and transfer the monies to Palestinians. Is it a surprise that the report lifted from the American Democratic agenda a line “building back better” in its report?

The UN Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace should properly rebrand itself as the UN Coordinator for Palestinian Appeals. It may be more successful at raising more money from countries which have become more open about their own antisemitism and anti-Israel bias, and long ago stopped trying to get Palestinian Arabs to abandon their localized jihadist aspirations.