Some 10, 000 Arab refugees, currently on the payroll of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Middle East, constitute a source of strong resistance to a solution of the Arab refugee problem, a study of UNRWA personnel data indicated today.
These figures showed that on October 1, 1957, the agency’s staff totalled 10, 083 persons, including 9, 854 “area personnel.” All area personnel are Arab refugees. They include all UNRWA staff members who come in direct contact with the Arab refugees in the camps in the Gaza strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. This includes teachers doctors, nurses, sanitation employees, transport workers and maintenance people and the “mukhtars,” or local leaders, who serve as administrators of the refugee camps.
The anti-Israel activities of some of the “area personnel” was indicated this week by Dr. Luther H. Evans, director general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, who said that he and UNRWA were aware that the teachers teach hatred for Israel and seek to imbue refugee children with the hope of returning to their “homeland.” meaning Israel.
Some experts here believe that the “area personnel” have a vested interest in continuation of present Arab refugee treatment because an effective solution would cost them their jobs and better-than-average income. Because of this, these experts say, the area personnel” strongly oppose resettlement in Arab countries or any treatment to reduce hatred of Israel among the refugees.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
