By Lord Hylton - 3rd November 2010
Lord Hylton writes for ePolitix.com ahead of his question on a comprehensive agreement covering all refugees from the Middle East.
The United Nations Relief and Works Administration (UNWRA) was set up in 1948 as a temporary measure to assist Palestinians, who had fled from the new state of Israel and its armies. Because no long-tem solution has yet been found for this problem, UNWRA now has 4.8 million people registered with it, about 1.9 million of which are living in Gaza and the West Bank. Of the total, some 1.4 million are living in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza.
Camps were originally in tents, but over the years they have become concrete block dwellings, often multi-storey and at high density per acre, with little open space or community facilities.
The second largest group fled from Iraq following the war of 2003. They numbered some 2 million, of whom about 1.2 million are in Syria and half a million in Jordan. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees works with limited resources to assist these people.
6.5 million people are thus in unsatisfactory conditions, often unable to work legally or to vote and take part in normal civic life. Of the Palestinians, some may be able to settle in the West Bank, but this depends on a peace agreement. The issue, however, goes wider than just agreement between Israel and Palestine, others would no doubt accept compensation and move elsewhere.
In both the Palestinian and Iraqi cases the majority are not accepted by their host countries. They are wherever they are because of international wars. I suggest that the major powers of the world have a duty to stop ignoring these issues and to cease delegating them to inadequately funded UN Agencies.
Palestinian and Iraqi refugees are well educated and adaptable people. If their human potential could be combined with the financial resources of the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, the economies of the whole Middle East could be greatly improved. Vision and courage are needed to overcome the obvious difficulties.
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