The Affects of Western Dependency on Gaza

The Wall street Journal contains an opinion by Gunnar Henisohn,  who heads the Raphael Lemkin Institute at the University of Bremen, Europe's first institute devoted to comparative genocide research.

Mr. Henisohn describes Gazan demographics as having a "youth bulge" consisting primarily of young men between the ages of 15 and 29.  With jobs scarce they are attracted to crime and terrorist organizations.  The UN refugee agency, UNRWA supports much of Gaza's necessities with much of the population on the UNRWA dole.

   "...The reason for Gaza's endless youth bulge is that a large majority of its population does not   have to provide for its offspring. Most babies are fed, clothed, vaccinated and educated by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Unlike the U.N. High Commission for Refugees, which deals with the rest of the world's refugees and aims to settle them in their respective host countries, UNRWA perpetuates the Palestinian problem by classifying as refugees not only those who originally fled their homes, but all of their descendents as well."

"  ...UNRWA is benevolently funded by the U.S. (31%) and the European Union (nearly 50%) -- only 7% of the funds come from Muslim sources. Thanks to the West's largesse, nearly the entire population of Gaza lives in a kind of lowly but regularly paid dependence.

 "  ...By generously supporting UNRWA's budget, the West assists a rate of population increase that is 10 times higher than in their own countries. "

The solution, wean Gazans off the dole and have them support their own children,   Gazans would then have to concentrate their efforts on building the economy as opposed to waging war,

   "... If we seriously want to avoid another generation of war in Gaza, we must have the courage to tell the Gazans that they will have to start looking after their children themselves, without UNRWA's help. This would force Palestinians to focus on building an economy instead of freeing them up to wage war."

Although not mentioned in the editorial it's worth noting that Palestinians are the only refugees (if they could be called that) with their own UN agency.

The complete opinion:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123171179743471961.html

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