Pursuant to resolution 302 relevant to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), establishing the United Nations General Assembly on December 8, 1949 was not expected to carry on for 60 years. It was also not expected that addressing the Palestinian issue would be the focus of attraction in the entire world for 60 years. UNRWA which, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, commemorates its 60th anniversary – though, at then, its structure was not in its extensive current service, development, and aid concerns and management– continues to be the most significant witness to the rights of Palestinian refugees, wherever they were, to enjoy a decent life until their return, according to the resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative. Commemorating such an anniversary in reflection of the continuing tragedy of a human mass dispossessed of its land and desecrated of its identity, inevitably brings about responsibilities to the entrusted Agency, preserving extreme readiness to meet the temporary and strategic requirements imposed by the systematic dispersion and inhuman blockade that has been despotically and boisterously practiced by Israel before the very eyes of the international community which simultaneously provides the UNRWA with the elements of resistance. The latter, which has been carrying out its responsibilities since the first of May, 1950, and whose number of employees exceeds 30.000, meets the needs of 4.67 million refugees, thus opposing major challenges at the administrative and financial level on the one hand and at the future-vision level of its role, through its relation with host and donor countries, on the other hand. Due to the deterioration of the social and economical situation of the Palestinian refugees as well as the repercussions of the global financial crisis of donor countries, will this role be limited to filling the deficit of the public budget as well as the “Territory” budget, in accordance with the term used by host countries, or is it called upon to not only to effectively restructure the administrative context, but also to reformulate its identity with all the stakeholders concerned by its continuity, in what proves the international community’s witnessing of t one of the most heinous crimes of this era? Between the administrative restructuring and the reformulation of identity, membership correlations must be inferred after highlighting both necessary needs aforementioned.

 

1.UNRWA: Administrative Restructuring

 

It does not matter in this context, nor is our business, to search in the technique of administrative development, whether at the recruitment level or at that related to the interaction with the daily needs of refugees. Yet the most important thing is the philosophy of the administrative restructuring, starting with two essential questions: Will the recruitment dimension remain subjected to a choice with which factors funding required competencies interfere, and for how long; which requires sometimes a change in the personnel or in one project more than once, which may reduce some of the effectiveness of work, so the funding and its source sometimes become an obstacle in achieving the anticipated? Then will the interaction with the daily needs of refugees remain, to a large extent as it is today, based on the traditional emergency aid logic, or will it move to a pragmatic of long-term objectives?

 

None of the questions aforementioned have any concern with interfering with the current dynamism of the UNRWA obligations, which seems to deplete the organization’s abilities – the need, by which the latter, however, proves its ability to efficiently keep abreast of the catastrophic breakdown despite the insufficiency of available means, yet these two questions may draw the attention of Palestinian refugees themselves, the most present and effective multitude in the structure of UNRWA, to the fact that it is required to put their expertise along with international competences towards the people’s strengthening direction, not in education and its techniques, yet in the role of post-education regarding the ability to protect their struggling identity by insuring that there are two challenges for enabling their role. The first is grounded on the generalization of the rejection principle of the temporal living status which means being located at the ability to innovate level; and the second is based on the fact that the interaction with international expertise in UNRWA is a part which consists of martyrdom for the case. Here lies the crux that the international community must understand and that is represented by the fact that the administrative structure cannot succeed without re-discussing the identity of UNRWA and its mission.

 

 

2.UNRWA: Reformulation of Identity

 

It is definite that no organization can carry out its mission in the absence of human and financial resources. However, what we sometimes miss, especially in our technological world, is that the human and financial elements are insufficient for any organization to carry out any mission entrusted to it; strictly speaking, what if these critical missions are similar to keeping the case of Palestinian refugees in the priorities of the international community. It is well known that UNRWA is an international humanitarian body that has nothing to do with politics or security. However, it is also well known that UNRWA is a humanitarian body highly entrusted with a political case, regarding its relation with international justice. It is also a humanitarian body directly concerned with security, regarding its responsibility on the protection of people’s geographical, demographic, cultural, social, economical and environmental security. Both, security and politics, must regain their glamour in the heart pounding for future UNRWA to appear on the recourse basis of international, and even Israeli, courts to record the systematic violation claims against humanity. This approach may be an introduction to direct some of the Security Council performance as a matter of resorting to documented cases hereof, along with the authorization of the one entrusted to pursue it. Moreover, the role of the members of the supreme advisory body of UNRWA, who represent a miniature model of the members of the Security Council, must not be limited to providing finance, yet they are requested to practice the continuing accounting power for whoever insists on considering their country a financial source rather than a witness for the desired justice. Egypt having the presidency and Saudi Arabia the vise-presidency, can be an opportunity towards this direction.

 

No doubt it is somehow difficult for our administrative restructuring and identity reformation of UNRWA to be heard under the cumulative breaking of the case of the Palestinian refugees since 60 years; however, right has a voice and no voice could be louder.