Israel challenges U.N. on Palestinian refugees

By JTA (Jerusalem)

article created on: 2011-12-15T00:00:00

Israel questioned the use of the U.N. aid agency created exclusively for Palestinian refugees.

Addressing the United Nations in Geneva, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon argued Dec. 8 against the two-tier system whereby Arabs displaced by the fighting in British Mandatory Palestine around the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, and their descendants, are tended to by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, while other refugees must look collectively to the U.N High Commissioner for Refugees.

Israel has long argued that UNRWA perpetuates the conflict with the Palestinians, who insist on a “right of return” for their refugees to land now in Israel, whereas UNHCR has often worked to resettle its wards.