Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02AMMAN2938
2002-06-04 14:21:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

STAFFDEL BODLANDER AND MAKOVSKY: MONITORING UNRWA

Tags:  PREF PREL KPAL KWBG IS JO 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002938 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA, PRM AND H

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2012
TAGS: PREF PREL KPAL KWBG IS JO
SUBJECT: STAFFDEL BODLANDER AND MAKOVSKY: MONITORING UNRWA
301(C) CERTIFICATION IN THE WEST BANK


Classified By: DCM Greg Berry, per 1.5 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002938

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA, PRM AND H

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2012
TAGS: PREF PREL KPAL KWBG ISRAEL'>IS JO
SUBJECT: STAFFDEL BODLANDER AND MAKOVSKY: MONITORING UNRWA
301(C) CERTIFICATION IN THE WEST BANK


Classified By: DCM Greg Berry, per 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (U) In a May 30 visit to UNRWA's West Bank field, House
International Relations Committee Staffers Deborah Bodlander
and Alan Makovsky investigated UNRWA's compliance with
section 301(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act (which prohibits
UNRWA from using any USG assistance to provide services to
terrorists),as well as the continued relevance of UNRWA's
mandate fifty-four years after the original Palestinian
refugee crisis. They also visited Jenin refugee camp to
inspect damages incurred during the April battle in the camp.
The staffers met with UNRWA West Bank field director Richard
Cook, deputy director Guy Siri, special assistant for
emergency programs Patrick Barbieri and public information
officer Sami Mshasha. They were accompanied by regional
refugee coordinator Joan Polaschik and ConGen poloff
Elizabeth Sallies.


2. (U) West Bank Director Cook told the staffers that only
25 percent of UNRWA's 600,000 registered refugees in the West
Bank reside in refugee camps. Most of the West Bank camps
are quite small (the largest has only 20,000 residents) and
vary in nature from a small neighborhood within a larger
urban area (such as Jenin refugee camp or Shu'fat camp,
located within East Jerusalem) to stand-alone rural villages
(Fawwar camp). Cook explained that the camp boundaries are
delineated only on maps and that the only visible sign on the
ground of where camps begin and end may be the quality of
housing in a particular area. Cook noted that UNRWA does not
administer or police the camps, but only provides services
within the camps to registered refugees. Cook added that,
under the current emergency circumstances, UNRWA provides
services to some non-refugees, such as emergency health care,
or food and water to areas that were isolated for extended
periods. (In a separate meeting with refcoord, UNRWA's
Director of Relief Services in the West Bank confirmed that
UNRWA's non-medical assistance to non-refugees is limited
only to food assistance, and constitutes no more than 12
percent of UNRWA's overall emergency food aid programs in the

West Bank. UNRWA does not provide direct cash support to
non-refugees.)


3. (U) In response to a question from the staffers, Cook
explained that camp committees (originally established by the
PLO and now elected by camp residents, according to a
representative social and political mix for that specific
camp) are UNRWA's key interlocutors within the camps. While
they do not administer the camps (civil administration is the
responsibility of local government -- either Palestinian or
ISRAELi),the camp committees are the primary vehicle for
UNRWA officials and camp residents to exchange views. Cook
reported that he meets regularly with all West Bank camp
committees, and uses the occasion to reinforce UNRWA
policies, including those on the neutrality of all UNRWA
facilities.


4. (U) Cook told the staffers that ISRAELi authorities never
have approached UNRWA with allegations that its West Bank
facilities have been misused by terrorists. Although the
ISRAELi press has carried such allegations, including charges
that an UNRWA warehouse in Balata refugee camp had been used
to stockpile weapons, Cook reported that the allegations
"simply are not true." He said UNRWA does not even have a
warehouse or other storage facility in Balata camp.


5. (C) Cook reported that UNRWA has a number of clear
policies and procedures in place to ensure that its
facilities are not misused and that its staff are not engaged
in illegal activities. He reported that any UNRWA staff
member found in violation of these policies is punished. In
addition, any UNRWA employee who has been convicted of a
crime receives administrative punishment from UNRWA, which
varies with the severity of the crime. In a recent example,
UNRWA summarily dismissed a staff member convicted of murder
and refused to reinstate him after his sentence was commuted.
With regard to UNRWA facilities, UNRWA international staff
conduct unannounced, unscheduled visits to all 160 UNRWA
facilities in the West Bank every six months. During the
visits, UNRWA international staff complete a comprehensive
inspection of the facilities, opening all cabinets, unlocking
all doors, and ensuring that all UNRWRA facilities are
properly identified (signposted, flags flying). Refcoord
noted that UNRWA Headquarters' Audit and Inspection
Department also conducts similar unannounced, unscheduled
visits to UNRWA facilities, in addition to their regular
audits of UNRWA programs.


6. (C) Cook reported that UNRWA also has a number of clear
policies and procedures in place to ensure that known
terrorists or convicted criminals do not receive UNRWA
assistance. For example, UNRWA policy is not to rebuild the
homes of suicide bombers destroyed by the IDF or damaged in
"work accidents." Cook told the staffers that in early May,
two refugee shelters in Balata camp were destroyed by a "work
accident." UNRWA refused the families' request for
assistance in rebuilding the shelters. However, UNRWA as a
general policy provides emergency humanitarian relief
(blankets, tents) to refugees in dire need of shelter,
including those whose homes have been damaged in work
accidents or destroyed by the IDF following a suicide
bombing. In this particular instance, UNRWA provided
emergency assistance to the families of the would-be
bombmakers. Cook said that, due to its humanitarian mandate,
UNRWA could not refuse such basic needs to the families of
refugees engaged in illicit activities.


7. (SBU) Cook emphasized that UNRWA utilizes a system of
stringent criteria and well-trained social workers to ensure
that only qualified, non-criminal refugees receive relief
assistance from UNRWA. Before the current crisis began in
September 2000, only 8,000 refugee families -- five percent
of the West Bank refugee population -- received UNRWA's
"special hardship" assistance of food rations and some direct
cash assistance. Today, 98,000 families receive food
assistance from UNRWA. Cook assured the staffers that UNRWA
makes every effort to ensure refugees involved in illicit
activity do not receive UNRWA services. For example, any
refugee serving a prison term is removed from UNRWA's special
hardship rolls, and his/her family's assistance is
subsequently reduced. The staffers questioned Cook on the
procedures used by UNRWA to inform refugees of the penalties
and risks of involvement in terrorism, and suggested that
UNRWA could do a better job of informing refugees of the cuts
in services associated with involvement in illicit activity.
They said it would be helpful if UNRWA would reiterate its
relief policies in writing. They also pressed UNRWA to
institute similar policies to ensure that convicted criminals
do not receive health or education services.


8. (SBU) Finally, the staffers noted that some members of
Congress have suggested that UN Security Council Resolutions
governing the presence of armed elements in civilian refugee
camps may apply to UNRWA, especially those resolutions
requiring the UNSYG to report to the Security Council any
information regarding armed elements in UN camps. While the
staffers acknowledged that the applicability of these
resolutions to UNRWA may be unclear, they urged UNRWA to do
everything possible to encourage an atmosphere of nonviolence
within Palestinian refugee camps. They pressed UNRWA to
develop standard policies and procedures for handling
information regarding illicit activities in the camps (e.g.,
how and to whom to report the information). Cook said that
he personally was not sure whether such policies currently
existed, but was certain that UNRWA would be willing to
investigate the possibility of instituting such a policy.


9. (U) ConGen Jerusalem cleared this message.

Gnehm