Explanation (3)7 A special protection framework was designed for Palestinian refugees to ensure they enjoy adequate and active protection and to resolve their situation as soon as practicable. This was a result of the UN having recognized its role in creating the Palestinian refugee situation by adopting Resolution 181 of 1947, which recommended the partition of Palestine within the borders of the British Mandate. It was also due to the Arab states refusal to include Palestinian refugees within the existing international protection regime, which was impaired by gross imbalances at the time. Accordingly, the UNCCP was established under Resolution 194. The UNCCP mandate provided for the protection of the legal right of Palestinian refugees to reparations (being return, restitution, and compensation, and resulting in economic and social rehabilitation). However, its mandate was impeded by Israel’s rejection. As a result of the recommendation of the UN Economic Survey Mission for the Middle East, UNRWA was established under Resolution 302 of 1949, as a temporary agency mandated to secure humanitarian aid, relief and work to Palestinian refugees in the areas where they were concentrated, including Palestinian IDPs in the area that became Israel in 1948. However, Palestinian IDPs were excluded from the UNRWA mandate in 1952, after Israel had pledged to maintain their rights. At the time, the international community recognised the possibility that refugees might cease to enjoy protection from the UNCCP or UNRWA. Hence, the UNGA mandated UNHCR (the UN agency responsible for all other refugee populations) to intervene and bridge the protection gap in accordance with the provisions of Article 1D of the 1951 Refugee Convention and Article 7C of the UNHCR Statute. From its inception, the UNCCP composition was seriously flawed. The Commission consisted of just three countries: the USA, France, and Turkey, and unlike other UN organizations and agencies, it was not 7 See BADIL, Closing Protection Gaps, Handbook on protection of Palestinian Refugees in States Signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Second Edition, Chapter 1, 1-40, available at: http//:badil.org/phocadownloadpap/badil-new/ publications/Handbook-art1d/Art1D2015-Handbook.pdf 9

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