UNRWA’s Mandate UNRWA supports more than five million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Originally established by UN Resolution 302 of 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programs for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA’s mandate has been repeatedly renewed in light of the ongoing Palestinian refugee question. UNRWA provides a range of services – including education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance – funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States. These services are available to all those living in UNRWA’s areas of operation who meet its definition, which identifies Palestine refugees as “persons whose normal 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 conflict” (including internally displaced Palestinians (IDPs)).1 In order to access these services, Palestinian refugees must register with UNRWA in the area of operation where they reside. Unlike the 1951 Refugee Convention, which clearly establishes to whom the term ‘refugee’ should be applied in Article 1(A)(2),2 UNRWA’s definition fails to delineate who constitutes a refugee, only outlining the criteria for receiving assistance. Thus, the main factor determining whether a Palestinian falls under UNRWA’s definition is the need for assistance (as the individual needs to have lost both their home and means of livelihood) and not their forcible displacement. This definition, moreover, does not fully encompass the whole range of displaced Palestinians today, including only those Palestinians who were displaced during the 1948 War and reside in one of UNRWA's five areas of operation. 1 UNRWA, “Palestine Refugees,” available at: https://www.unrwa.org/palestine-refugees [accessed 9 May 2018]. 2 According to this Article, the status of refugee will be accorded to persons who “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” 5