Palestinians who became refugees during the 1948 War were one group among many that became displaced during the 1940’s. Many millions of people became refugees during this time, including European Jews who had managed to survive the Holocaust, yet still faced continued persecution in their home countries, and up to one million Jews from the Middle East and North Africa who were expelled, or fled, from their homes due to the Arab response to the creation of Israel.
From the start, the Palestinians were dealt with differently than other refugees. While all others came under the administration of a series of global organizations that eventually became the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Palestinians received their own relief organization: the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). The entire set of criteria for qualifying as a Palestinian refugee was (and still is) significantly different than for all others. While the UNHCR worked to provide durable solutions for refugees under its administration, Arab leaders intentionally kept the Palestinians in stateless limbo, by refusing to accept anything less than the complete destruction of Israel.
In 1948, the UN passed Resolution 194, which recommended repatriation of refugees to their original homes. The Arab states unanimously rejected the resolution, because it applied only to those willing “to live at peace with their neighbours”.
By 1960, the last remaining refugee camps from World War II had been successfully cleared. The hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe and Arab lands who chose to resettle in Israel had also been successfully accommodated – without assistance from the international community. The Palestinian refugees, however, were still being held hostage to the pan-Arab determination to destroy Israel.
The abuse of Palestinian refugees for political ends continues to this day. In nearly every Arab country where they have sought shelter, Palestinians have been denied basic human rights. The total number of Palestinian refugees, instead of declining, has been multiplied six times over, due largely to the fact that Palestinians are the only ones whose descendants also qualify as refugees. In fact, no Palestinian has ever lost their refugee status.
The Palestinians have long since become the largest and longest-standing refugee population in the world. To support them, the UNRWA has also grown to become the largest of all UN agencies.
“The Arab States do not want to solve the refugee problem. They want to keep it as an open sore, as an affront to the United Nations and as a weapon against Israel. Arab leaders don’t give a damn whether the refugees live or die.”
- Alexander Galloway, director of UNRWA in Jordan, 1952
