Its definition does not cover final status. Palestine refugees are "persons whose regular place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict." The Six-Day War of 1967 generated a new wave of Palestinian refugees who could not be included in the original UNRWA definition.
UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Palestine War and subsequent conflicts, as well as their patrilineal descendants, including legally adopted children.
As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees. UNRWA was established in 1949 by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to provide relief to all refugees resulting from the 1948 conflict.
It also provided relief to Jewish and Arab Palestine refugees inside the State of Israel following the 1948 conflict until the Israeli government took over responsibility for them in 1952.
Its definition does not cover final status. Palestine refugees are "persons whose regular place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict." The Six-Day War of 1967 generated a new wave of Palestinian refugees who could not be included in the original UNRWA definition.
Under General Assembly Resolution 194 (III), of 11 December 1948, other persons may be eligible for repatriation and/or compensation, but are not necessarily eligible for relief under the UNRWA's working definition. ===Creating dependency rather than resettling refugees=== Although UNRWA's Mandate is only Relief and Works, the Wall Street Journal Europe edition, published an op-ed by Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander H.
UNRWA policy, however, states that the Palestinian Arabs who fled from Israel in the course of the 1948 war, plus all their descendants, are to be considered refugees until a just and durable solution can be found by political actors.
As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees. UNRWA was established in 1949 by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to provide relief to all refugees resulting from the 1948 conflict.
Pursuant to this recommendation, and to paragraph 11 of Resolution 194, which concerned refugees, on 8 December 1949, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 302(IV), which established the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Since its initial establishment in 1949, its operations have expanded beyond immediate relief and social services; as of 2019, the bulk of its budget is spent on education (58 percent), followed by health care (15 percent), and general support services (13 percent). === Education programme === Education is UNRWA's largest area of activity, accounting for more than half its regular budget and the majority of its staff.
It is distinct from the UNHCR, established in 1950 as the main agency to aid all other refugees worldwide.
When it began operations in 1950, the initial scope of its work was "direct relief and works programmes" to Palestine refugees, in order to "prevent conditions of starvation and distress… and to further conditions of peace and stability".
UNRWA's mandate was soon expanded through Resolution 393(V) (2 December 1950), which instructed the agency to "establish a reintegration fund which shall be utilized ...
When UNRWA began operations in 1950, it was responding to the needs of about 700,000 Palestinian refugees.
It has been the main provider of basic education to Palestinian refugee children since 1950.
UNRWA provides them with technical and small sums of targeted financial assistance, but many have formed links of their own with local and international NGOs. ===Health program=== Since 1950, UNRWA has been the main healthcare provider for Palestinian refugees.
It also provided relief to Jewish and Arab Palestine refugees inside the State of Israel following the 1948 conflict until the Israeli government took over responsibility for them in 1952.
A subsequent resolution, dated 26 January 1952, allocated four times as much funding on reintegration than on relief, requesting UNRWA to otherwise continue providing programs for health care, education, and general welfare. ===Definition of refugee === UNRWA has developed its own working definition of "refugee" to allow it to provide [assistance].
In the 1960s, UNRWA schools became the first in the region to achieve full gender equality, and a slight majority of enrolled students are female. Half the Palestine refugee population is under 25.
Its definition does not cover final status. Palestine refugees are "persons whose regular place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict." The Six-Day War of 1967 generated a new wave of Palestinian refugees who could not be included in the original UNRWA definition.
From 1991, the UN General Assembly has adopted an annual resolution allowing the 1967 refugees within the UNRWA mandate.
While focused on Palestine refugees, it also extends to persons displaced by "the 1967 and subsequent hostilities" and, occasionally, to a broader cross-section of the local community.
Secretary Pompeo maintained that "most Palestinians under UNRWA's jurisdiction aren't refugees, and UNRWA is a hurdle to peace." ==Relations with Israel== After Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza in the June 1967 Six-Day War, it requested that the UNRWA continue its operations there, which it would facilitate.
From 1991, the UN General Assembly has adopted an annual resolution allowing the 1967 refugees within the UNRWA mandate.
It has a strong record of creating employment, generating income, and empowering refugees. The Microfinance Department is an autonomous financial unit within UNRWA, established in 1991 to provide microfinance services to Palestine refugees, as well as poor or marginal groups living and working in close proximity to them.
In 2000 it started issuing its own books.
He had in the past conducted an independent research of Palestinian, Egyptian, Syrian, Saudi Arabian, Tunisian, and Iranian schoolbooks between 2000 and 2010, and was thus appointed to be a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel for the study from The Council For Religious Institutions in the Holy Land.
I can't defend the indefensible." UNRWA has taken many steps since the year 2000 to supplement the PA curriculum with concepts of human rights, nonviolent conflict resolution, and tolerance.
According to the UNRWA website: We have been delivering human rights education in our schools since 2000 to promote non-violence, healthy communication skills, peaceful conflict resolution, human rights, tolerance, and good citizenship.
Israel justifies the demolitions as anti-terror measures. November 2002 allegation that an Israeli sniper killed UNRWA employee In November 2002 Iain Hook, a British employee of UNRWA, was shot and killed by an IDF sniper while working in the Jenin refugee camp, during an operation to locate a Palestinian militant suspected of masterminding a suicide bombing that killed 14 people earlier in 2002.
Its report was completed in March 2003 and delivered to the State Department for submission to Congress.
UNRWA is one of the few organizations that has implemented human rights and conflict resolution training for millions of Palestine refugee children in the complex political environment of the Middle East for over 12 years. ====UNRWA facilities being abused by Hamas militants==== In 2003, Israel released to newspapers what the New York Times called a "damning intelligence report".
In 2004, Emanuel Marx and Nitza Nachmias pointed out that many criticisms of the agency corresponded to its age, "including symptoms of inflexibility, resistance to adjust to the changing political environment, and refusal to phase out and transfer its responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority. In 2007, UNRWA initiated a reform program to improve efficiency.
Religious and political tolerance is emphasized in a good number of textbooks and in multiple contexts." IPCRI's June 2004 follow-up report notes that "except for calls for resisting occupation and oppression, no signs were detected of outright promotion of hatred towards Israel, Judaism, or Zionism" and that "tolerance, as a concept, runs across the new textbooks".
UN officials responded, according to the NY Times, by saying that it is Israel that has "lost its objectivity and begun regarding anyone who extends a hand to a Palestinian as an enemy." The Israel Defense Forces released a video from May 2004, in which armed Palestinian militants carry an injured colleague into an UNRWA ambulance, before boarding with him.
UNRWA issued a plea to all parties to respect the neutrality of its ambulances. On 1 October 2004, Israel again lodged accusations against UNRWA.
Committee for Refugees and Immigrants' Campaign to End Refugee Warehousing in refugee camps around the world, people are confined to their settlement and denied their basic rights. Israel Feuds With Agency Set Up to Aid Palestinians (New York Times: 18 October 2004) Fixing UNRWA: Repairing the UN's Troubled System of Aid to Palestinian Refugees (By James G.
However, he was retired from United Nations service against his will on 31 March 2005. James G.
I agree that it is a political failure, but we don't set up the mandate, we are only the implementers". In 2006, the UNRWA drew criticism from the US Congressmen Mark Kirk and Steven Rothman.
State Department wrote that after a 2006 revision of textbooks by the PA Ministry of Education and Higher Education, international academics concluded that books did not incite violence against Jews but showed imbalance, bias, and inaccuracy.
This work began in 2009 and was made necessary when the camp was destroyed in the fighting between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Fatah al-Islam in 2007. UNRWA evaluates the ongoing conflict in Syria as one of the most serious challenges ever.
In 2007, the Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations described his country as a "strong supporter" of UNRWA, which acts as "a safety net" for the Palestine refugees, providing them with "immediate relief, basic services and the possibility of a life in dignity".
In 2007, Israel expressed its continued support for UNRWA, noting that despite "concerns regarding the politicization" of the agency, the country supports its humanitarian mission. === Independent evaluations === In 2011, UNRWA agreed to be assessed by the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), a network of donor countries established to determine the organisational effectiveness of multilateral organisations.
In 2004, Emanuel Marx and Nitza Nachmias pointed out that many criticisms of the agency corresponded to its age, "including symptoms of inflexibility, resistance to adjust to the changing political environment, and refusal to phase out and transfer its responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority. In 2007, UNRWA initiated a reform program to improve efficiency.
The video documentation was not convincing, and the Israeli military changed some of its earlier statements and conceded the possibility that the object could have indeed been a stretcher, but did not offer the apology Hansen had demanded. The Israeli Army circulates footage taken on 29 October 2007 showing three militants firing mortars from UNRWA boys' school in Beit Hanoun, Gaza.
The IDF initially claimed it was responding to an attack by Hamas gunman hiding in the compound, but upon reexamination, said that an "errant shell had hit the school." Maxwell Gaylord, the UN humanitarian coordinator, stated that the UN "would like to clarify that the shelling, and all of the fatalities, took place outside rather than inside the school." UNRWA has consistently rejected the allegation that militants used the Agency's installations during the Gaza war in 2008–2009.
In 2009, officials spoke of a "dire financial crisis", including a funding shortfall of $200 million, in the wake of the Israeli offensive in Gaza In August 2018, the U.S.
This work began in 2009 and was made necessary when the camp was destroyed in the fighting between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Fatah al-Islam in 2007. UNRWA evaluates the ongoing conflict in Syria as one of the most serious challenges ever.
Lindsay, a former UNRWA general counsel and fellow researcher for Washington Institute for Near East Policy published a report for WINEP in 2009 in which he criticized UNRWA practices.
In its 2009 Human Rights report, the U.S.
In response to a critical report written in 2009 by former UNRWA general counsel James G.
(ret.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, senior researcher of the Middle East and radical Islam at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, asserted that 'the UNRWA workers union has been controlled in practice by Hamas for many years'. According to The Jerusalem Post and Fox News Hamas won a teachers union election for UN schools in Gaza in 2009.
UNRWA has strongly denied this and notes that "Staff elections are conducted on an individual – not party list – basis for unions that handle normal labour relations – not political – issues." In addition, John Ging, the Gaza head of operations, said in a letter dated 29 March 2009 that employees must not "be under the influence of any political party in the conduct of their work." It has also been claimed that in 2012, the Hamas "Professional List" again won a Staff Union election in UNRWA.
The professional list won three UNRWA workers groups: the employees', teachers', and services' unions. ===Schools=== It has been reported that Hamas has interfered with curriculum and textbooks in UNRWA schools. For example, in 2009 it caused UNRWA to suspend a decision to introduce Holocaust studies in its schools. One of UNRWA's flagships has been gender-equality and integration.
This has been found to be false in several US State Department reports such as Brown and PICRI cited above. On 4 February 2009, UNRWA halted aid shipments into the Gaza Strip after it accused Hamas of breaking into a UN warehouse and stealing tonnes of blankets and food which had been earmarked for needy families.
A few days later, the UN resumed aid after the missing supplies had been returned. On 5 August 2009, the IDF accused Hamas of stealing three ambulances that had just been transferred through Israel to the UNRWA.
A UNRWA spokesman also confirmed this but soon retracted this admission and denied the incident, even publicizing a photo it claimed was of one its officials with the ambulances. ====Al-Fakhura violence==== On 7 January 2009, UNRWA officials alleged that the prior day, in the course of the Gaza War, the Israel Defense Forces shelled the area outside a UNRWA school in Jabalya, Gaza, killing more than forty people.
Lindsay=== On the basis of his 2009 analyses for WINEP, referred to in previous sections, former UNRWA general-counsel James G.
Lindsay, Washington Institute for Near East Policy: January 2009) Arab–Israeli conflict * United Nations operations in the Middle East United Nations General Assembly subsidiary organs History of the Palestinian refugees Palestinian refugees
However, UNRWA has never been given a mandate by the UN General Assembly to resettle refugees. In 2010 John Ging, head of UNRWA Gaza had stated that he was disappointed in Linday's criticisms of UNRWA for failure to resettle refugees.
He had in the past conducted an independent research of Palestinian, Egyptian, Syrian, Saudi Arabian, Tunisian, and Iranian schoolbooks between 2000 and 2010, and was thus appointed to be a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel for the study from The Council For Religious Institutions in the Holy Land.
A healthy life is a continuum of phases from infancy to old age, each of which has unique, specific needs, and our programme therefore takes a 'life-cycle approach' to providing its package of preventive and curative health services. To address the changing needs of Palestine refugees, we undertook a major reform initiative in 2011.
In 2007, Israel expressed its continued support for UNRWA, noting that despite "concerns regarding the politicization" of the agency, the country supports its humanitarian mission. === Independent evaluations === In 2011, UNRWA agreed to be assessed by the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), a network of donor countries established to determine the organisational effectiveness of multilateral organisations.
Joffe in April 2011 saying that despite UNRWA's "purported goal, it is hard to claim that the UNRWA has created any Palestinian institutions that foster genuinely civil society.
It has published a number of evaluations of PA textbooks The latest evaluation from 2011 concludes that the situation had not significantly improved, and that there were in fact many examples of incitement to hatred and demonization of Israel – conclusions not widely shared by other experts. In 2013 the results of a rigorous study, which also compared Israeli textbooks to PA textbooks, came out.
Hamas also advised UNRWA to reexamine its curriculum to ensure its suitability for Palestinian society, due to the mixing of genders at the camps. In September 2011 it was reported that, under pressure from Hamas, UNRWA has made all its summer camps single-sex. Hamas has its own network of summer camps and the two organizations are regarded to be vying for influence with Gazan youth.
In May 2012, the Agency endorsed its new Human Rights, Conflict Resolution and Tolerance (HRCRT) Policy to further strengthen human rights education in UNRWA.
UNRWA has strongly denied this and notes that "Staff elections are conducted on an individual – not party list – basis for unions that handle normal labour relations – not political – issues." In addition, John Ging, the Gaza head of operations, said in a letter dated 29 March 2009 that employees must not "be under the influence of any political party in the conduct of their work." It has also been claimed that in 2012, the Hamas "Professional List" again won a Staff Union election in UNRWA.
Islamic Jihad has also run summer camps since 2013. UNRWA did not operate its summer camps for summer 2012 and summer 2014 due to a lack of available funding.
In 2012 when on two occasions, Israel Channel Two TV, the most popular network in Israel apologised and issued a retraction of these allegations. During the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, UNRWA spokesmen reported in July that weapons were found in three vacant UNRWA schools which had been closed for the summer.
Writing in the Middle East Monitor in April 2012, Karen Koning AbuZayd, a former Commissioner-General of the UNRWA (2005–2009), argued that "UNRWA needs support not brickbats".
It has published a number of evaluations of PA textbooks The latest evaluation from 2011 concludes that the situation had not significantly improved, and that there were in fact many examples of incitement to hatred and demonization of Israel – conclusions not widely shared by other experts. In 2013 the results of a rigorous study, which also compared Israeli textbooks to PA textbooks, came out.
No justification exists for millions of dollars in humanitarian aid going to those who can afford to pay for UNRWA services. In 2013 Lt.
But Hamas militants have firebombed UNRWA mixed-gender summer camps, and in 2013 Hamas passed a law requiring gender segregation in schools for all pupils nine years of age and older in Gaza.
Islamic Jihad has also run summer camps since 2013. UNRWA did not operate its summer camps for summer 2012 and summer 2014 due to a lack of available funding.
Hamas has filled this void and now is the direct provider of summer activities for about 100,000 children and youths. In 2013, UNRWA canceled its planned marathon in Gaza after Hamas rulers prohibited women from participating in the race. In 2013, Israeli media outlets aired a video documenting UNRWA-funded summer camps where children are being taught to engage in violence with Israelis.
They did not dress like Palestinians." Death of UNRWA Staff Member in Kalandia Refugee Camp In August 2013, UNRWA released a statement that accused Israel of killing one of its staff members and injuring another in the Kalandia refugee camp during a raid.
According to the release from 26 August 2013, "UNRWA deeply regrets to confirm that one of its staff members, a 34-year-old father of four, was shot dead by Israeli forces and killed instantly in an operation in Kalandia refugee camp in the West Bank at approximately seven o'clock this morning.
The law does not apply to UNRWA schools. Elhanen Miller, the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel, wrote in February 2014 that Hamas was "bashing" UNRWA's human rights curriculum, saying that it included too many examples and values foreign to Palestinian culture and had too much emphasis on peaceful resistance rather than armed resistance.
Islamic Jihad has also run summer camps since 2013. UNRWA did not operate its summer camps for summer 2012 and summer 2014 due to a lack of available funding.
In 2012 when on two occasions, Israel Channel Two TV, the most popular network in Israel apologised and issued a retraction of these allegations. During the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, UNRWA spokesmen reported in July that weapons were found in three vacant UNRWA schools which had been closed for the summer.
It appears, however, that UNRWA returned weapons to the local government – meaning Hamas. In July 2014, three Israeli soldiers died from a booby-trap in a clinic.
House Committee on Foreign Affairs on 9 September 2014.
They, like others who view the agency more positively, realise that UNRWA makes a major contribution to stability in the Middle East. Writing in the Times of Israel on 31 July 2014, David Horovits likewise observed that although Israel has many complaints against UNRWA, it is broadly supportive of the organization not interested in abolishing it.
During the article's publication, the 2014 Gaza conflict had resulted in 225,000 displaced persons within Gaza, the vast majority of whom relied on UNRWA for immediate support.
investigation=== In August 2014, several U.S.
Senators demanded an impartial investigation into UNRWA's alleged participation in the 2014 Gaza-Israel conflict, accusing UNRWA of being complicit with Hamas. ...
Another UNRWA staff member, a sanitation laborer, was shot in the leg during the same operation and is in a stable condition." 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict During the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, there were many accusations by Israel and many rebuttals by UNRWA.
However, an internal ethics report leaked to Al Jazeera in 2019 alleged that, since 2015, the agency's senior management have consolidated power at the expense of efficiency, leading to widespread misconduct, nepotism, and other abuses of power among high ranking personnel.
In 2009, officials spoke of a "dire financial crisis", including a funding shortfall of $200 million, in the wake of the Israeli offensive in Gaza In August 2018, the U.S.
Finally, the 2018 annual report recently presented by UNRWA's Department of Internal Oversight Services and Ethics Division - both independent bodies - to UNRWA's Advisory Commission (host countries and largest donors) confirmed these positive assessments.
ends funding 2018=== Citing a "failure to mobilize adequate and appropriate burden sharing," the Trump administration stopped funding UNRWA, calling its fundamental business model and fiscal practices "simply unsustainable".
As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees. UNRWA was established in 1949 by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to provide relief to all refugees resulting from the 1948 conflict.
As it is technically a temporary organisation, the agency's mandate is extended every three years; it was most recently renewed on 13 December 2019, extending until 30 June 2023. UNRWA is led by a Commissioner-General—since 8 March 2020 Philippe Lazzarini of Switzerland—an Under-Secretary-General of the UN responsible for managing all of the agency's activities and personnel.
By 2019, some 5.6 million people were registered as eligible for UNRWA services. UNRWA provides facilities in 59 recognized refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, and in other areas where large numbers of registered Palestine refugees live outside of recognized camps. For a camp to be recognized by UNRWA, there must be an agreement between the host government and UNRWA governing the use of the camp.
In addition to its regular budget, UNRWA receives funding for emergency activities and special projects, such as in response to the Syrian civil war and the COVID-19 pandemic. Historically, most of the agency's funds came from the United States and the European Commission; in 2019, close to 60 percent of its total pledge of $1.00 billion came from EU countries, with Germany being the largest individual donor.
In December 2019,the Netherlands restored its funding, increasing its donation by €6 million for 2019, to €19 million.
Qatar increased its donation for Palestinians in Syria by $20.7 million, bringing the 2019 total to $40 million. The funding situation for 2019 and beyond was discussed in April at a "Ministerial Strategic Dialogue" attended by representatives from Egypt, France, Germany, Japan, Kuwait, Norway, United Kingdom, the European External Action Service and the European Commission.
Since its initial establishment in 1949, its operations have expanded beyond immediate relief and social services; as of 2019, the bulk of its budget is spent on education (58 percent), followed by health care (15 percent), and general support services (13 percent). === Education programme === Education is UNRWA's largest area of activity, accounting for more than half its regular budget and the majority of its staff.
However, an internal ethics report leaked to Al Jazeera in 2019 alleged that, since 2015, the agency's senior management have consolidated power at the expense of efficiency, leading to widespread misconduct, nepotism, and other abuses of power among high ranking personnel.
As it is technically a temporary organisation, the agency's mandate is extended every three years; it was most recently renewed on 13 December 2019, extending until 30 June 2023. UNRWA is led by a Commissioner-General—since 8 March 2020 Philippe Lazzarini of Switzerland—an Under-Secretary-General of the UN responsible for managing all of the agency's activities and personnel.
intelligence community, on the grounds that any such move would only fuel violence in the Middle East. 2020 alleged undermining of UNRWA by Israel and the U.S. In January 2020, UNRWA said that in East Jerusalem, Israel was building schools and institutions "to compete" with UNRWA and stop it from operating there.
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