Compromised UNRWA a barrier to Middle East peace

Henry Ergas’s customary forensic analysis (“Aid funds can’t be left in hands of terrorists”, 1/11) accurately notes “Israel … was far more liberal than Egypt and Jordan had been, granting Palestinian organisations freedoms of expression and association they had never previously enjoyed”. This freedom was abused and has resulted in the growth of terrorist organisations biting the hand that fed them. The neighbouring Arab regimes have accepted not even one refugee from the current conflict, while the Australian government has welcomed more than 1000. The Arab nations’ refusal is seemingly based on their observation of the 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas and their unwillingness to suffer the same fate.

Alan Slade, Dover Heights, NSW

Regarding the ongoing refugee problems in Gaza and the West Bank, Henry Ergas in his eruditely commanding way points out that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East “is part of the problem, not of the solution”. This is highlighted by the many known instances of UNRWA complicity in Hamas’s atrocities, in Hamas’s operational use of UNRWA facilities, and in the embedding of Hamas’s hatreds and propaganda in UNRWA schooling. Ergas emphasises that a fundamental cause of the damage is that by “acting as a caretaker for generation after generation of so-called refugees, most of whose parents and grandparents were born in their current place of residence, UNRWA has converted refugee status into an inheritable entitlement well worth preserving. Having thus encouraged Palestinians to permanently depend on welfare, it has sown the very ‘germ of human deterioration’ its establishment decried.”

He is right when he says funding of UNRWA sustains the terrorism, and if “Western governments genuinely want to advance the cause of peace, it is high time they worked with Israel to devise a credible alternative”.

Alan Franklin, St Ives, NSW

Crisafulli speaks for the majority

Newly minted Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has cancelled the state’s truth-telling inquiry and confirmed that the Path to Treaty legislation will be repealed. These decisions, together with the cancellation of the Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro scheme, will be supported by most Queenslanders. Quite aside from the fact treaties are concluded only between sovereign entities and therefore never between a government and its own citizens, truth-telling is a fraudulent process that has little, if anything, to do with healing.

Professional victims cannot, by definition, be truly healed, for the careful nurturing of a permanent state of victimhood is central to their raison d’etre. Truth-telling at base is group therapy for guilt-ridden white progressives.

Australia has shown an unmatched willingness to redress the wrongs of that past and, to this end, annually commits huge resources – mostly to no avail. The genuine reconciliation that has long been there for the taking, continues to be spurned. It is surely time our nation cast off the sackcloth and ceased the endless apologies. Like it or lump it, we are all simply Australians now.

Terry Birchley, Bundaberg, Qld

Is the fact that the newly elected David Crisafulli-led Liberal National Party government has axed the First Nations truth-telling and healing inquiry an indication that one of the most basic principles of democracy is to be restored in Queensland? That the concerns of most people should be addressed, not ignored, by the government they elect?

I’m referring to the nearly 70 per cent of Queenslanders who voted No to the voice to parliament. Not to mention, of course, the majority of Queenslanders who have just elected an LNP government.

We can now live in hope that this basic democratic principle also may be restored soon in our federal government in relation to Australians not being divided by the colour of their skin.

Crispin Walters, Chapel Hill, Qld

More action on NDIS

I’ll give Bill Shorten his dues for saving $1bn on our half-thought-out National Disability Insurance Scheme, introduced under the Gillard government of which he was a significant part. But let’s face it, he has picked only the low-hanging fruit. There is, I suspect, a few more billions to be saved if we were to get serious about using the scheme to support those in critical need rather than those who have or claim to have some relatively minor disability. The cost of the latter should be borne by families except in cases of genuine financial hardship. Right now the NDIS is money to be had by an industry that has been built around it. Sadly, we have a culture in this country that says taxpayer money is there for the asking; a “get it while you can” mentality. We have to change this by ensuring the legitimacy of various schemes, policing their operation and demanding a return on investment.

John George, Terrigal, NSW