Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies UNRWA and Palestinian Refugees activities as an external matter (UNRWA, 2010). It has also engaged in ad hoc expansion of its fields of operations, for example collaborating with UNHCR to assist Palestinian refugees from Iraq following the two Gulf Wars, and aiding Palestinians fleeing the current conflict in Syria to non-UNRWA fields such as Turkey (see UNRWA, 2012; LaGuardia and Van der Toorn, 2011). UNRWA’s mandate covers five geographic areas—Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon—and not beyond. Within its five fields, UNRWA’s mandate extends to groups or categories of vulnerable Palestinian refugees and displaced persons according to relief or protection criteria. Its designated categories and individuals can be dropped from the rolls or cease to be provided services based on changed priorities of need and vulnerabilities. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Palestinian Refugees The UNHCR Statute adopted by UNGA Res. 428(V) in December 1950 incorporated an individualised ‘universal’ definition of refugee, which was later included in the Refugee Convention as Article 1A(2). Under Res. 428(V), the broad scope of UNHCR’s mandate is ‘providing international protection’ to refugees falling within its Statute, as well as to those displaced persons falling outside its statutory definition. UNHCR’s core function, however, is to promote and secure durable solutions for refugees. 7