Graph 2.2: Percentage Distribution of Palestinian Refugees and IDPs by Group, End of 2021 1967 Refugees 14.5% IDPs in 1948 Palestine 4.8% IDPs in the oPt since 1967 4.1% UNRWA Registered 1948 Refugees 63.3% Non-registered 1948 Refugees 13.3% 2.2. Distribution 1948 Registered Refugees During the two major waves of displacement in the 20th century, Palestinian refugees had a tendency to remain as close as possible to their homes and villages of origin, based on the assumption that they would return once armed conflict had ceased. After the Nakba (19471949), an estimated 65 percent of the Palestinian refugees remained in areas of Palestine not under Israeli control – i.e., the West Bank (including east Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, which comprised 22 percent of the territory of Mandatory Palestine. In the West Bank, the Palestinian population swelled from 460,000 to 740,000 due to the mass influx of refugees at that time. The impact of this mass influx into areas of the former Gaza District that became known as the Gaza Strip was even more dramatic as the population almost quadrupled. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), about 215 UNHCR, ‘Refugee Data Finder: Palestinians as a Population of Concern’ (UNHCR, 2021) <https://www.unhcr.org/ refugee-statistics/download/?url=qy8wO0> accessed 3 October 2022. 43 2 Chapter The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also regards 114,335 Palestinians as a Population of Concern. This number includes 103,581 refugees, 9,645 asylum seekers, and 1,109 persons categorized as “others of concern,” which refers to individuals who do not necessarily fall directly into either of the other groups but to whom UNHCR may extend its protection and/or assistance services.215 This group includes a mixture of Palestinians displaced in 1948, 1967, and other refugees displaced outside these two major displacement events. These Palestinians fall under UNHCR’s mandate as they are eligible under the 1951 Refugee Convention and fall outside of UNRWA’s area of operations; for example, 70,027 are Palestinians in Egypt and 7,885 are Palestinians in Iraq (see Chapter 3 for information on the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee and the 1967 Protocol).