Palestinians, You Don't Have to Live Like a Refugee

"Dramatic shifts are rare in American foreign policy. One undeniable example is the Trump administration's decision last week to cease funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the main U.N. agency giving aid to Palestinians. At once a nearly 70-year-old Gordian knot has been cut, but what comes next?
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The decision to cut Unrwa's funding corresponds with the Trump administration's broader perspective on foreign policy. Like trade policy, the U.N. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, President Trump insists that foreign aid must benefit the U.S. in a more substantial way than merely sustaining stability. Unrwa does not, and has not. It retards the development of Palestinian civil institutions and affirms several of the Palestinians' self-defeating grievances.

The so-called right of return for Palestinian refugees, which Unrwa promulgates through its educational and policy organs, bolsters a sense of disenfranchisement among Palestinians throughout the world. Unrwa's definition of 'refugees' to include millions who never set foot in British Mandate-era Palestine runs counter to international law and practice. And in the long run, the agency's assumption of duties that ought to belong to the Palestinian people might slow the emergence of a two-state solution to the standoff with Israel.

The Palestinian Authority must now overcome its shock and rage and recognize reality..."