Israel bombing shit..
Out of context: Reply #493
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re: "apartheid", refugees, right of return, double standard"Arab discrimination against Palestinians
Many Palestinian refugees are located in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. In 2003 Amnesty International sent a memorandum to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), expressing concerns about discrimination against Palestinians. CERD responded in 2004, urging the Lebanese government to "take measures to ameliorate the situation of Palestinian refugees ... and at a minimum to remove all legislative provisions and change policies that have a discriminatory effect on the Palestinian population in comparison with other non-citizens."The violent takeover of Gaza by Hamas in 2007 has, so far, not been condemned at the UN. In November 2007, Ha'aretz reported that the Palestinian Authority observer at the UN, Riad Mansour, had sought to include a clause "expressing concern about the takeover by illegal militias of Palestinian Authority institutions in June 2007" and calling for the reversal of this situation. It reported diplomatic sources as saying that Mansour had been subjected to a barrage of insults, led by the representatives of Egypt, Syria and Libya. Delegates from some Arab countries had claimed that Mansour's initiative would be interpreted as an official UN condemnation of Hamas, and would gain Israel international legitimacy for cutting electricity and fuel supplies to Gaza. Mansour agreed to softer language expressing "concern about an illegal takeover."
Between May and September 2007, the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon became the center of fighting between the Lebanese Internal Security Force and Fatah al-Islam gunmen. The Lebanese Army was supported in this action by Palestinian movements responsible for security in the camp. Bombing by the Lebanese army left the camp in ruins and caused the mass displacement of 27,000 Palestinian refugees to other camps. The UN Security Council issued two statements during the fighting, both condemning Fatah al-Islam and "fully support[ing] the efforts carried out by the Lebanese Government and army to ensure security and stability throughout Lebanon". Khaled Abu Toameh and Jonathan Kay faulted the UN for not condemning the Lebanese Army, arguing that it had condemned Israeli Defense Forces in similar circumstances in the past, namely the Battle of Jenin.
UNRWA perpetuating Palestinian refugee status
Several observers accuse the UN of promoting this discrimination by creating a special status for Palestinian refugees. A report by the International Federation for Human Rights stated:Because the UNRWA's position consists of the prospect of a conflict resolution leading to the creation of an independent Palestinian State and to the return of the refugees on that territory, as a definitive solution, it tends to justify the Lebanese policies granting the Palestinian refugees only a minimal legal status. In other words, the Palestinian refugees' rights are limited to the right of residence as a condition of the application of UNRWA's humanitarian assistance.[186]
A 2007 op-ed by Nicole Brackman and Asaf Rominowsky stated: UNRWA serves as a crucial tool of legitimacy for the Palestinian refugee issue — as long as the office is active, how could anyone question the Palestinian refugee problem? Thus an oxymoronic situation: Despite the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005 and the creation in 1993 of a Palestinian Authority with jurisdiction over the Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza/West Bank, UNRWA remains the key social, medical, educational and professional service provider for Palestinians living in "refugee" camps. This runs contrary to every principle of normal territorial integrity and autonomy."