Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies UNRWA and Palestinian Refugees UNHCR’s Statute limits its mandate vis-à-vis Palestinians. Chapter II, Para. 7(c) states that the Agency’s ‘competence’ shall not extend to a person ‘Who continues to receive from other organs or agencies of the United Nations protection or assistance . . . ’. This ‘exclusion clause’ was incorporated into Article 1D of the Refugee Convention, and a second, ‘inclusion’ clause was added later in the Convention drafting process. Article 1D reads in full: This Convention shall not apply to persons who are at present receiving from organs or agencies of the United Nations other than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees protection or assistance. When such protection or assistance has ceased for any reason, without the position of such persons being definitively settled in accordance with the relevant resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, these persons shall ipso facto be entitled to the benefits of this Convention. UNHCR’s initial interpretation of Article 1D in its 1979 Handbook required that Palestinians claiming refugee status were to be assessed under the individualised criteria of Article 1A(2), 8