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Letter: Designation as refugees prolonged

The Columbian
Published: May 24, 2014, 5:00pm

Buried at the end of the long article on May 18, “Photos tell of Palestinian generations in exile: Archive documents 66 years as refugee camps became cities,” on the plight of the Palestinian refugees is a comment from Hassan Sattari, grandson of people who left Israel during The 1948 War. “Without UNRWA, there would have been greater pressure for a solution,” he said. Ah, someone speaks truth to power.

In case readers are unaware of it, millions of refugees from other wars in the past century have been resettled in countries to which they relocated. Their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were never considered refugees in perpetuity. All refugees except the Palestinians are under the authority of the UN High Commission for Refugees — only the Palestinians have their own UN Agency — the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). That agency, rather than facilitating the Palestinian refugees’ resettlement, has facilitated their continued status as refugees, political pawns in the continuing, unsuccessful effort to do away with Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. It is a tragedy, but a tragedy that has been perpetuated by UNRWA and the surrounding Arab countries.

Ann Bardacke

Vancouver

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