Israel Feuds With Agency Set Up to Aid Palestinians

[Violet_Crumble]

This is worth posting mainly due to the incredible urge to offer Dore Gold a mirror that's so sorely needed for his comment about behaviour in contradiction to UN standards.

GAZA - For years, Israel has feuded with the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians over a wide range of issues, and recently Israel thought it had found a smoking gun to press its case.

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"Israel's hope is that U.N.R.W.A. will live up to the standards set by the international community on terrorism," said Dore Gold, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, referring to the agency by its initials.

He added that the agency's "behavior is in contradiction of the U.N.'s own standards."

"They are turning a blind eye," said Mr. Gold, a former envoy to the United Nations. "This leads to a situation where U.N. facilities can be exploited."

In response, the agency's director, Peter Hansen, said Israel had frequently raised false or inflated accusations against it and had consistently hampered aid efforts by imposing stringent travel restrictions against its personnel in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Lionel Brisson, director of operations at the agency's offices in Gaza City, acknowledged that some employees, as well as armed Palestinians, had violated the agency's policies, but he said that those cases had been rare and that the agency had dealt with them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/international/middleeast/18gaza.html?oref=login&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1098086797-OV3IWcyXQFqfh8jhwbiOTg