Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1994. The distinction(s) between the PLO and the Palestinian
Authority have largely been erased, particularly after the recognition of the State of Palestine
as an observer state of the United Nations in 2012.xi
Palestine Refugee: The term used by UNRWA to refer to any person whose normal place
of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both
home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 War.
Palestinian Authority (PA): The body established under the 1993 Declaration of Principles
on Interim Self-Government Arrangements (Oslo Accords) and the 1994 Agreement on the
Gaza Strip and Jericho Area to administer specific parts of the 1967-occupied Palestinian
territory pending a final peace agreement.
Palestinian Political Participation: For the purposes of this survey, political participation
in the Palestinian context is defined as any individual or collective activity that aims to
advance Palestinian human rights, whether undertaken in order to achieve national rights
of self-determination and return, or other human rights, be they political, civil, social,
economic or cultural, as to be freely enjoyed by Palestinians everywhere. This encompasses
participation in general and local elections, but also participation in party-political and/
or factional work, in semi-official and non-official political frameworks, bodies and
mechanisms, in the activities of civil society institutions, socio-economic and/or political
movements, in popular national events or cultural and artistic activities, and through social
media and online activity.
Palestinian Refugee: For the purposes of this publication, and in accordance with
international definitions, the term Palestinian refugees refers to all those Palestinians who
have become (and continue to be) externally displaced (1948 refugees, outside the area that
became Israel, and with regard to 1967 displaced persons, outside what became the oPt) in
the context of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as their descendants. The term
refers to the following three groups:
1. 1948 refugees under UNGA Resolution 194(III), including both registered (Palestine
Refugees in UNRWA terminology) and non-registered refugees;
2. 1967 refugees under UNSC Resolution 237 (“Displaced Persons” in UN terminology and
used by UNRWA with particular reference to UNGA Resolution 2252);
3. All those persons, who are neither 1948 nor 1967 Palestinian refugees, who have been
displaced from Mandatory Palestine, either through forcible displacement or a coercive
environment, and who are unable or unwilling to return to 1948 Palestine or the oPt
owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
Registered Refugee: A 1948 Palestinian refugee who is registered with UNRWA.
xi
67/19. Status of Palestine in the United Nations, UNGA Res A/RES/67/19 (4 December 2012) <http://palestineun.
org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/67-19-Status-of-Palestine.pdf> accessed 3 October 2022.
xiii