Forum at Columbia University Whitewashes UN and Arab States

by Winfield Myers  •  Oct 13, 2009 at 9:26 am

http://www.campus-watch.org/blog/2009/10/forum-at-columbia-university-whitewashes-un-1

Brendan Goldman, an intern at the Middle East Forum and a Middle Eastern and Islamic studies major at New York University, attended a recent forum at Columbia University on the United Nations Relief Works Agency in Palestine (UNRWA) and reported on it for Campus Watch. His article appears today at FrontPage Magazine. Here's a taste:

With all the irony of President Richard Nixon's famous quip that, "there can be no whitewash at the White House," the ivory tower played host to a September 25 "debate" at Columbia University's Casa Italiano that exonerated the United Nations Relief Works Agency in Palestine (UNRWA) and human rights violators throughout the Arab-Islamic world.

The conference was held in a small auditorium, decorated in classic Greco-Roman style with ornate columns and crimson curtains. The audience of about 100 filtered in slowly, filling the room with students, UNRWA employees, and professors.

In a debate entitled, "UNRWA historical performance in a changing context" and a roundtable labeled "The contribution of Palestine refugees to the economic and social development in the region," Rex Brynen of McGill University and Susan Akram of Boston University's School of Law distinguished themselves by castigating Israeli "occupation" while engaging in apologetics for Arab leaders who have violated Palestinian refugee rights.

To read the rest of this article, please click here.

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