"UNRWA has ingeniously manipulated commonly accepted international humanitarian law and the 1951 UNHCR Convention definitions of a refugee. Why? Because by changing the definition of a Palestinian refugee, they have ensured that the Palestinian refugee issue can never be solved. This has turned UNRWA's original temporary relief mandate into a quasi-governmental and permanent political fixture in the West Bank and Gaza.
More importantly, the definition ensures that the number of Palestinian refugees will continue to grow exponentially, and that they will remain under the auspices of UNRWA, and not the UNHCR - which is responsible for every other group of refugees in the entire world...
The Government of Israel (GOI) contests the UNRWA definition of refugee, criticizing the partial and discriminate share of attention and services that they enjoy under the auspices of the UN: 'They have their own set of rules, their own funding and of course, their own international agency - UNRWA, and if this wasn't enough, their refugee status is transferred to their children.' Furthermore, the GOI states, 'it's worth noting that when UNRWA was established, its mandate included the task of resettling refugees. But the mandate was amended in 1965 to remove this important function. Today, many of the Palestinian refugees and their descendants do not live in refugee camps. Yet they continue to be counted as refugees by UNRWA and are receiving benefits including free health care and education.' It also counts Palestinians settled in other countries as refugees...
UNRWA will continue to justify its financial appeals by claiming that the refugee numbers will continue to grow. But this growth is inevitable considering the unique definition UNRWA has created around the term. If this term remains uncontested, UNRWA will continue to serve as a political springboard for those states who seem to be more interested in using UNRWA to keep the right of return on the international political agenda, than they are for meeting the humanitarian needs of their Palestinian beneficiaries."