Congress Demands True Number of Palestinian Refugees From UNRWA

"Longstanding US support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is facing new questions this week, as both houses of Congress work to modify critical funding bills to determine the legitimacy of the agency's operations.

For the first time, drafts of both foreign operations bills include sections demanding the State Department publicly define the term 'refugee' as it pertains to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and using that definition, identify how many Palestinians fit the criteria for receiving UNRWA aid.

Premising Congress' question is the notion that many Palestinians – arguably a majority – are permanently settled in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank or east Jerusalem, and therefore not under the jurisdiction of a refugee agency. Such a finding would fundamentally change the narrative of the decades-old conflict...

'UNRWA is sort of becoming an entitlement program of the Middle East, and the desire is to increase transparency on who actually are refugees relevant to that conflict,' said one senior Senate aide familiar with the language. 'The bill goes to the heart of the debate over UNRWA funding.'

Republicans have launched a parallel effort in the House to compel the State Department to define 'refugee,' as the term pertains to the Palestinian question..."