The person responsible for the United Nation’s treatment of Palestinian refugees has come under fire for his off the cuff remarks that Palestinians were deluded to think they could ever return to Palestine. Andrew Whitley, the New York director of the U.N.’s Relief Works Agency, reportedly blurted out that Palestinian refugees must not live under the illusion that they will achieve the “right to return,” and that Arab countries must search for a place for them in their lands to resettle there. Hamas called for Whitley’s immediate dismissal.
Speaking at a conference in Washington, Whitley said it would be wise to “start a discussion soon with the refugees for them to consider what their own future might be, for them to start debating their own role in the societies where they are rather than being left in a state of limbo, where they are helpless, but preserve rather the cruel illusions that perhaps they will return one day to their homes.”