property rights, freedom of movement, employment rights, access to healthcare and education, provision of identity/travel documents, and the option of facilitated naturalisation.29 The drafters of the 1951 Convention could not foresee the protracted refugeehood of Palestinians, but clearly they intended for Palestinian refugees to be as protected as other refugees. Although the 1951 Convention does not define “protection”, the drafters were aware of the differing mandates of the UNCCP and UNRWA, including the work of the UNCCP in its very early years towards durable solutions for Palestinian refugees.30 While UNRWA’s protective work has evolved over the years, as noted above, UNRWA does not have a mandate to work towards durable solutions nor does it provide a protective legal status (such as refugee status) to the refugees it serves. Thus, UNRWA does not offer protection in the sense in which that term is normally used in international refugee law. This means that Palestinian refugees who are excluded from the benefits of the 1951 Convention under Article 1D are less protected than refugees who fall within UNHCR’s mandate, which includes granting refugee status, advising governments on the correct way to determine refugee status, monitoring cessation, cancellation and revocation of refugee status, referring for resettlement, facilitating local integration, and/or facilitating repatriation.31 2.2. Article 1D of the Refugee Convention Article 1A of the 1951 Refugee Convention affords protection to refugees who face a well-founded fear of persecution for one of the five reasons set out in the Convention (race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group). The first clause of Article 1D of the Refugee Convention conditionally excludes persons who are receiving protection or assistance from a UN agency other than UNHCR (in practice, this means UNRWA, as it is currently the only relevant and operational UN agency). This is followed by an inclusion clause stating that if such protection or assistance ceases, the persons concerned are automatically entitled to the benefits of the Convention. Article 1D of the 1951 Refugee Convention states: “This Convention shall not apply to persons who are at present receiving from organs or agencies of the United Nations other than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees protection or assistance. 29 See BADIL, Closing Protection Gaps, n 11, Introduction and Ch 1, S 6 and Ch 2, S 1; see also UNHCR, ‘Introductory Note’ [to the 1951 Convention ](2010) https://www.unhcr.org/uk/3b66c2aa10 (observing that the emphasis of the 1951 Convention’s definition of a refugee is on ‘protection from political or other forms of persecution’.) Note that the EU Qualification Directive explicitly defines ‘international protection’ as ‘refugee status’ or ‘subsidiary protection status’ and defines the content of international protection in line with the rights set out in the 1951 Convention. Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted, Article 2 and Chapter VII (‘Content of International Protection’). See also UNHCR, Note on International Protection A/AC.96/830 (7 Sep1994) https://www.refworld.org/docid/3f0a935f2.html, confirming that “International protection thus begins with securing admission, asylum, and respect for basic human rights, including the principle of non-refoulement, without which the safety and even survival of the refugee is in jeopardy; it ends only with the attainment of a durable solution, ideally through the restoration of protection by the refugee's own country”; and see UNHCR, ‘Annex - Report of the Round Table on Solutions to the Problem of Refugees and the Protection of Refugees San Remo, Italy (12 - 14 July 1989)’ in Solution to the Refugee Problem and the Protection of Refugees, EC/SCP/55 (23 Aug 1989) https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/72431?ln=en, observing that: “the international community was increasingly dealing with protection problems not separately but in the overall context of solutions” (4); and “[t]he entire concept of solution should be linked integrally with the rights of the individual, whether they be in relation to the country of nationality or to the world outside. Essentially, solution should be seen as the preservation or the restoration of the rights of the individual”; and “[t]he principles of non refoulement and asylum would need to be constantly reaffirmed as basic elements of the entire process towards solution” (13); and ‘Tentative Conclusions for Further Study and Consideration’: “Solution should not be seen as an aspect independent and separate from protection. It should be seen as the final purpose of protection, and protection should be seen as governing the entire process towards solution and as determining what was or what was not a solution” (1, preamble) (emphasis added). 30 BADIL, Closing Protection Gaps, n 11, 32. 31 UNRWA Letter 2021, n 7. 6