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Focus on Palestine: Refugees and the UNRWA
Islam Online, Washington D.C.
Most people mistakenly blame the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for doing little to help the Palestinian refugees. The stark truth is, however, that Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza are not covered under the UNHCR. Having experienced the destruction of their more than 500 towns and villages and being forcefully expelled from their own homeland left the Palestinian people seeking for refuge.
The UNHCR had not yet been established during the Arab-Israeli war. On December 8, 1949, the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 302 to address the needs of the Palestinians, following the unilateral declaration of statehood by Israel. A part of this resolution (section IV) established the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The main mission of the UNRWA has been to implement direct relief and works projects for the Palestinian refugees. Actual operations of the UNRWA did not begin until May 1950. The initial signers of the resolution to establish the UNRWA intended it to be a temporary response to the crisis as no one expected it to remain in operation for over 50 years. However, without a durable and lasting solution for the Palestinians, the U.N. has consistently renewed the mandate for UNRWA. Currently, it is scheduled to be active until June 30, 2002.
The UNRWA provides various services such as education, access to health care, and social services. One of the difficulties the agency has faced is in seeking out and registering refugees. From the outset, the UNRWA has used the definition of a Palestinian refugee as a "person who resided in Palestine two years prior to the outbreaks of hostilities in 1948, who lost their homes and livelihoods as a result of that war." Not explicit in its name is the fact that the agency only serves those Palestinians who are in the Near East. The larger Palestinian diaspora falls outside the mandate of the UNHCR. Of course, the UNRWA is not the only agency that is providing assistance to the refugees. Several hundred non-governmental organizations have been established for this cause since 1948, and particularly following the 1967 war. Editor's Note: To read more about the Palestinian refugees and UNRWA,
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Imagine, four generations of Palestinians have now lived as refugees in a land that is now called the Occupied Territory.
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