Wiping Palestinian Refugee Rights Off the Map 2

Further to yesterday's post...

As in The Australian Jewish News of June 1, so too in The Australian of June 2. Here's Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan, foreign editor of the latter, singing from the same Israeli songsheet as his mate, Michael Danby, whom he hilariously describes as "the Australian politician who knows more about the Middle East than any other":

"UNRWA is a notorious UN boondoggle (1) of vast waste and political dysfunction. It defines as a refugee every descendent of any Palestinian who left Palestine at the time five Arab nations launched a war against Israel in 1948. (2) Thus if you are a citizen of Jordan with your own business, even a member of the Jordanian cabinet (3), but your grandfather came from Palestine, you are a refugee, according to UNRWA. As a result it makes the Israel-Palestine dispute insoluble.(4) Unlike all other refugees, this status in inheritable infinitely through the generations and never extinguished despite gaining other citizenship (5)... So why on earth does a policeman in Dandenong, a shearer in Scone, a miner in Mt Isa, have to pay taxes to maintain this vast UN folly (6), apart from the forlorn view that by sucking up to UN pieties we might wear the shabby tinsel of a seat on the UN Security Council for two years?"

(1) Boondoggle? As in 'a wasteful, pointless and unnecessary activity', such as Murdoch's subsidising of The Australian 's continued existence for no other reason than to provide a platform for the likes of his mouthpiece, Greg Sheridan.

(2) As per the old Zionist myth that the Palestinians remained in situ until the very moment (May 15, 1948  to be precise) they saw the Arab cavalry coming their way, barking such orders as, Oi, you lot! Outta the bloody way! How do you expect us to drive the Jews into the sea with you lot standing around and getting in the way? - at which point the Palestinians one and all (some 750,000 to be precise) pulled up stakes and headed for the horizon. In fact, the Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestine, and the refugees that tend to flow from that kind of thing, began in December 1947 and was in full swing by April 1948, long before the Arab cavalry intervened. (Anyone care to purchase and post a copy of Ilan Pappe's The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine to Greg over at News Ltd?)

(3) Yes folks, 2 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, and the vast majority are either making money hand over fist or stacking the Jordanian cabinet, which, according to the Not Guinness Book of Records is the largest in the world, with a cast of thousands.

(4) Insoluble? Yes it does rather. If only they were Jewish, then they'd be in like Flynn! But hey, that's how it is, so what's a Jews-only apartheid state to do?

(5) Inherited refugee status unlike all other refugees? Now I could mention the alleged expulsion of Jews from Palestine by the Romans in 70 AD, and remind you that, according to Zionist dogma, their right to return was inheritable through the generations (not to mention the millenia) and never extinguished despite gaining other citizenship, but I won't. Instead, I'll refer you to the article Exploding the myths: UNRWA, UNHCR & the Palestine refugees, in which UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness patiently explains that all refugees and their descendants, whether managed by UNRWA or the UNHCR, retain the status of refugees "until that status lapses through the achievement of a just and lasting solution" to their plight, with voluntary return to their country of origin being universally recognised as "the optimal solution." (unrwa.org, 27/6/11)

(6) Indeed! Why should the Australian taxpayer foot the bill (or part thereof)? I guess it's only because policemen in Chicago, farmers in Nebraska, and miners in Kentucky have to pay taxes to keep Israel afloat to the tune of $8.2 million a day (US military aid & the Israel/Palestine conflict, ifamericansknew.org). Turn that tap off, facilitate the refugees' return to their homes and lands in Israel (im)proper, and hey, no more need for UNRWA!