Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies UNRWA and Palestinian Refugees programmes. In most of these areas, UNRWA has received approval by the UNGA and few challenges from states. Following the 1967 war, UNRWA began responding to the increased need for human rights intervention and monitoring to protect individuals in ongoing conflict. UNGA resolutions increasingly used the language of ‘protection’ and ‘legal rights’ in conjunction with UNRWA’s role and activities towards Palestinian refugees. These Resolutions fall into three categories: recommending the Secretary-General to take protection measures towards Palestinians in consultation with UNRWA; commending UNRWA for undertaking certain protection measures; and recognising as fact that UNRWA’s activities include ‘assistance and protection.’vi In 1990, in the wake of the first intifada, the UN Security Council (UNSC) passed Res. 681, endorsing the establishment of the Refugee Affairs Officers (RAO) programme to monitor human rights violations of Palestinian refugees within the Occupied Territories. Despite pushback on the basis that RAO ‘protection’ activities went beyond UNRWA’s mandate, they continued to operate through the early 1990s until the signing of the Oslo agreements. UNRWA has most recently instituted a ‘Medium Term Strategy’ (MTS) for 2010 to 2015 designed to mainstream protection throughout its operations as an internal matter, and expand protection 6