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Friday, November 06, 2020

Fine print: @UNRWA admits that "Palestine refugees" are not REAL refugees under international law


UNRWA has a Frequently Asked Questions page. 

For most of the answers, it tries to pretend that there is no difference between UNRWA's "Palestine refugees" and how the UNHCR defines refugees:

Is The Transfer Of Refugee Status To Descendants Unique To UNRWA?

No. Under international law and the principle of family unity, the children of refugees and their descendants are also considered refugees until a durable solution is found. As stated by the United Nations, this principle applies to all refugees and both UNRWA and UNHCR have recognized descendants as refugees on this basis.
 

This isn't true - UNRWA automatically regards all descendants as refugees, while UNHCR defines them as derivative refugees. Unlike UNRWA, UNHRC refugees have to prove their eligibility for every generation. 

But it turns out that there is one FAQ that even UNRWA cannot spin:

Why Does UNRWA Provide Services To Palestinians With Another Nationality?

UNRWA’s mandate is to provide protection and assistance to Palestine refugees pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. It is for the UN General Assembly to determine who the Agency serves. Eligibility for the receipt of UNRWA services has never been made contingent on the lack of nationality. Eligibility for UNRWA services is a matter separate to conferral of refugee status or nationality under international law – issues that go beyond the scope of the Agency’s mandate.
UNRWA is forced to admit that being a "Palestine refugee" only means one is eligible for UNRWA services but it does not mean they are refugees under international law.  

In fact, the phrase "Palestine refugees" is a huge scam. Because UNRWA is a UN body, people think that the word "refugee" has a consistent meaning, but in fact - as UNRWA admits - "Palestine refugees" do not have refugee status under international law.

Careful observers knew this already. After all, real refugees can apply for asylum in other countries and "Palestine refugees" cannot, unless they are also refugees from Syria or other oppressive regimes. 

The reason that UNRWA insists on using the knowingly false terminology of "refugee" is to confuse people, to try to gain more contributions, to garner sympathy for a population who are in much better conditions than virtually all real refugees worldwide.





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