UNICEF Says It No Longer Channels Aid to Palestinians in Lebanon Through the PLO

UNICEF, the United Nations international children’s fund, has assured the International Council of B’nai B’rith that it has stopped channeling aid to Palestinians in Lebanon through Palestine Liberation Organization affiliates and will refrain from doing so in the future.

B’nai B’rith said it questioned the procedure of using PLO constituents as a conduit for relief efforts because the stated aim of the PLO is to destroy Israel and because it engages in terrorism.

The world Jewish service organization raised the issue with UNICEF after learning that such assistance had been funneled through the Palestinian Red Crescent, headed by PLO leader Yasir Arafat’s brother, Fathi, and the Palestinian Women’s General Union, both of which are PLO constituents.

Pamela Hollingworth, director of communications for the United States Committee for UNICEF informed the director of B’nai B’rith’s UN office, Dr. Harris Schoenberg, that UNICEF “has never supported the PLO” and that any aid that might have been distributed via PLO affiliates was of an “emergency humanitarian” nature. The United States is the principle source of funding for UNICEF.

Hollingworth told the B’nai B’rith Executive, “You not only have my assurance, you have my guarantee” that PLO groups will not participate in any future funding. This was confirmed to Schoenberg by Vincent O’Reilly, program officer of the UNICEF emergency desk in charge of Lebanon. O’Reilly said “a very small portion of the total 90-day, $5 million Lebanon relief program, and nothing of the UNICEF funded $32 million Lebanon reconstruction program was channeled through PLO affiliates.”

B’nai B’rith has been a strong supporter of UNICEF since its establishment. In 1980, the Jewish organization honored the UN agency and Danny Kaye, one of its most ardent and successful promoters, at a special program during the B’nai B’rith International convention.