According to UNRWA records, registered Palestinian refugees totaled 4.8 million in 2010: 41.6% in Jordan, 23.2% in the Gaza Strip, 16.4% in the West Bank, 9.9% in Syria and 8.9% in Lebanon.
In the Palestinian Territory, refugees represent 43.4% of the total population in 2011, with 29.7% of them in the West Bank and 67.3% in the Gaza Strip.
The vast majority of "refugees" living in Jordan have had Jordanian citizenship since 1950, meaning that they cannot be considered refugees in any sense of the word - except for UNRWA's tortured definition.
But even more bizarre is the characterization of "Palestinian refugees" living in...Palestine! How can people be considered refugees if they live in their own purported country? The most they can claim to be are "displaced persons" which is a completely different thing.
If you add together the Jordanian "refugees" with citizenship and the Palestinian "refugees" who also are citizens of the Palestinian Authority, you see that about 80% of all so-called "Palestinian refugees" are nothing of the sort. You cannot be a citizen of a country and a refugee at the same time.
If UNRWA and the Palestinian Arab leadership and Jordan were interested in solving the so-called refugee problem, they would acknowledge these simple facts and work to mainstream those who still live in camps and depend on UNRWA services into their respective Jordanian and Palestinian Arab societies. Their refusal to do so shows, more than anything else, that the "refugee" problem is an artificial construct, a fake issue that is being exacerbated and prolonged by the very people who pretend that it is their primary concern.
The facts are clear. 80% of the so-called refugees, aren't. And the only reason they are still called refugees is to use them - some four million people, if you believe UNRWA's numbers - as pawns to help destroy the Jewish state.
If the US and EU truly want to see peace in the region, this issue must be dealt with head-on. The truth must be exposed, and these "refugees" must be properly categorized and their issues solved within the context of Jordan and the PA. Otherwise, all the calls for negotiations and Israeli concessions are a large shell game to conceal the truth of how the Arabs (and the UN) have been cynically using millions of people as political pawns.