The UNRWA education system, especially in the Gaza Strip, where it is controled by Hamas, leads to and creates generations of children and youth that constitute some 50 % of the Palestinian People and do not recognize the right of the State of Israel to exist, and even seek to destroy it and return to within its borders. These children and youth are raised on the values of armed struggle, jihad and shahada (martyrdom), instead of on the aspiration to co-exist and live peacefully with the State of Israel, and on support for the two-state solution.
The endless anticipation of the promised return to Israel (fulfilling the “Right of Return”) helps the refugees remain permanently in their temporary refugee status, in harsh living conditions that foment an atmosphere of uncertainty, frustration and hatred. These feelings are fanned and directed against the State of Israel, constantly pushing the refugees into the arms of the terrorist organizations.
One must understand that after cultivating the notion of the “Right of Return” among the Palestinian refugees for nearly 64 years, the leaders of the Palestinian Authority cannot forgo the demand for its fulfillment for fear of loosing political support, or accept the idea of the existence of State of Israel as a Jewish state and seek to resolve the conflict.
The fruits of the cultivation of the “Right of Return” myth were evident in May 2011 when thousands of Palestinian refugees stormed the fences of Israel’s borders with Lebanon and Syria, while voicing their demand to return to their homes inside Israel.
The number of registered refugees keeps growing at a consistent and significant rate, as do the hatred and incitement to violence, and so, with US and European funding, the greatest obstacle to one day achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians continues to grow.
