refugee status. Rather, it only establishes the criteria for receiving assistance, meaning that the main factor determining whether a Palestinian falls under this definition is not their forcible displacement but the need for assistance - as they need to have lost both their homes and means of livelihood. UNRWA’s definition, moreover, does not fully encompass the whole range of displaced Palestinians today, as it includes only those Palestinians who were displaced during the 1948 War and who are registered or are entitled to register for assistance with UNRWA. Almost a million refugees, including their descendants, from the 1948 War did not register and therefore are not included in the definition.3 The definition also excludes all Palestinians displaced outside the context of the 1948 War, either before or after. Although Palestinians internally displaced during the 1948 War did fall under the ‘Palestine refugee’ category, UNRWA discontinued assistance for IDPs in July 1952 at Israel’s request,4 as the Israeli government regarded the issue of the IDPs a domestic Israeli issue. For the purposes of this publication, the term “Palestinian refugees” will be used to refer to persons belonging to the following groups: 1. Palestinians displaced as a consequence of the 1948 War - commonly referred to as the “Nakba” (“catastrophe”) by Palestinians - and their descendants (approximately 6.3 million, including 5.3 million officially registered with UNRWA); 2. Palestinians forced to flee their homes of origin during the 1967 War, and their descendants (approximately 1.1 million); 3. An unknown number of Palestinians displaced outside the area of Mandatory Palestine (the present-day territory of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip), and who are neither 1948, nor 1967 refugees. Palestinian IDPs The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (UNHCR Guiding Principles) from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees 12 3 BADIL Resource Center [hereinafter BADIL], Q and A: What you need to know about Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, 2015, available at http://www.badil.org/phocadownloadpap/badilnew/campaining-tools/brochures/2015/Q&A-en-2015.pdf 4 BADIL, The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and a Durable Solution for Palestinian Refugees, July 2000, available at: https://www.badil.org/phocadownload/Badil_docs/bulletins-and-briefs/ Brief-No.6.pdf