On
Hanging of
Palestine
Refugees,
UNRWA Warns of
Retaliation,
Clarifies
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
11 -- A week
after two
Palestinian
refugees were
executed by
hanging by
Syrian rebels
near Damascus,
Filippo
Grandi,
the
Commissioner
General of the
United Nations
Relief and
Works
Agency for
Palestine
Refugees in
the Near East
came to speak
at the
UN.
Inner
City Press
asked him
about the
hangings,
whether UNRWA
has any idea
which rebel
group was
behind them
and if such
information
would be
shared with
the UN
Commission of
Inquiry on
Syria.
Grandi
said
the UN does
not know who
did it -- it
or the
aftermath is
on YouTube --
but is
concerned
about
retaliation
aimed at
Palestinian
refugees. He
said the
longer the
conflict goes
on, then more
that the
refugees can
get swept up
in it.
(A year and a
day
previously, Grandi also
appeared at
the UN,
fielding
questions
about among
other topics
the Nahr
al-Bared camp.
Neither it nor
the Gaza
marathon being
cancelled
after women's
participation
was banned
came up on
Monday
morning.)
Earlier
in
his press
conference, as
the first
question in
fact, UNCA
President
Pamela Falk of
CBS asked
Grandi if he
had earlier in
the
day told UN
Radio that if
the Security
Council
doesn't form a
Palestinian
state, there
will be more
deaths.
No,
no, Grandi
insisted, he
had been
referring to
Syria, in the
same way
that Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon and
Lakhdar
Brahimi speak
of the
conflict
there. Yes, it
WOULD be news
if an UNRWA
chief called
on the
Security
Council and US
to form a
Palestinian
state.
Inner
City Press
also asked
about the
Kerem Shalom
crossing into
Gaza.
Grandi and his
spokesman (and
playwright)
Christopher
Gunness
indicted
that the
crossing has
been
re-opened;
Grandi added
that it is
narrow and
more crossing
are needed.
No
one asked
about the
cancellation
by UNRWA of
the Gaza
marathon,
after
women were
banned. And so
it goes at the
UN.
Footnotes:
the
UNCA first
question to
Grandi is
another reason
that tradition
should be
abolished --
add it to the
fiasco of UNCA
insisting on
getting the
first question
to Bolivian
President Evo
Morales, even
when he said
no. Apparently
UN system
officials
still do it
automatically.
But should
they?
The
new
Free UN
Coalition for
Access,
which thanked
Grandi, is
also
pushing for
public answers
from the
Department of
Public
Information
to the issues
raised last
week, and
the ten
most needed
rule changes
proposed on
February 10.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
