Israeli Initiative – Chapter 8: How Much UNRWA Costs

Posted on January 1, 2010 by admin
Posted in Israel Initiative Tagged UNRWA budget

By Yoav Sorek

As we mentioned in previous chapters, UNRWA is an expensive and inefficient agency, with a budget of $541.8 million in 2008 that rose to $649.9 million in 2009. This budget increases as UNRWA registers more refugees each year, due to its policy of counting descendants of refugees of the 1948 War of Independence as refugees, and expanding its services, forming a pseudo-state.

In June 2009, the listed number of registered UNRWA refugees rose by 2.2% as compared to the previous year, reaching a total of 4,671,811. In Gaza, where the refugee population rose by 3%, there are 1,072,303 refugees, and in Judea and Samaria there are 762,829 refugees, 2.2% more than the previous year. There also was an increase in Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Top donors’ contributions have risen in proportion to the increase in refugees.

The European Commission (EC) and the United States are UNRWA’s top donors, contributing 47% of the agency’s overall received contributions for 2008 ($799,337,517). Sweden, the next-largest donor, gave a little over one quarter of what the US did ($51,568,339). The only Arab donors in the top 20 contributors to UNRWA are the Saudi Committee and the OPEC Fund for International Development, giving a total of $13,999,977.

Each year, states offer an amount towards UNRWA’s general budget. Services in this budget include:

Education: Elementary and Secondary schools, Vocational Training, Teachers’ Training

Health: Primary Health Care Facilities, Dental Services, DiabetesHypertension Care, and Laboratory Services

Microfinance and microenterprise loans

Relief and Social Services: Special Hardship Cases, Women’s Centers, and Community Rehabilitation Centers

29,563 (!) Staff Posts

The money donated to UNRWA’s general budget essentially goes towards the formation of a pseudo-state in the areas of UNRWA activity. The agency goes beyond the provision of essential services to the refugees, building their dependence on UNRWA.

Throughout the year, UNRWA petitions donor states and NGOs for additional contributions for “Projects” (another $28.5 million in 2009), “Emergency Appeal: Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt)” ($275,288,085) and “Lebanon: Nahr el-Bared Camp Appeal” ($42,711,715). Parts of these so-called emergency appeals by this supposedly a-political agency include blatant opposition to Israeli actions. For example, one of the “strategic objectives” of “Emergency Appeal: Occupied Palestinian Territories” is to oppose and work towards the abolishment of restrictions on movement in and out of “the oPt.” As a result of these “emergencies,” which seem to happen every year, the European Commission’s contribution rose from $139,685,831 to $189,979,113, and the United States’ contribution nearly doubled, increasing from $95,726,691 to $187,008,231 – more than the donations received from the entire world in 1986.

UNRWA does not provide figures for all 60 years of its operation, but the information it does provide shows that the number of refguees is more than double what it was 25 years ago, and governments and the EC nearly tripled their annual contributions in the same amount of time.

In the past decade alone, UNRWA has spent more than 4.5 billion dollars.

The price of keeping UNRWA alive keeps rising. Think about how much of this money has lined the pockets of terrorists employed by UNRWA. Imagine, in UNRWA’s 60 years of existence, how much of your tax-money has been spent in order to perpetuate the refugee situation, and continue the violence against Israel.

Yoav Sorek is manager of The Israeli Initiative. Find out more: www.israelinitiative.com

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