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First of all, UNRWA *excluded* groups of displaced Palestinians at the time that UNHCR's criteria then and now would have included. Unlike UNHCR which later established the category of ‘refugee’ as a question of political and legal status, the registration of Palestinian refugees was originally performed according to their eligibility for relief services. It therefore automatically excluded Palestinians who still had an independent income or property, or those who dropped from the record because they no longer received assistance due to the agency's budget limitations, for instance. Nowadays, the UNHCR criteria are recognised as more meaningful. ‘Refugee status is a legal concept; it is not obligatory for a refugee to live in squalor or poverty to retain his or her rights’ (Weighill, 1995, p. 167). Apart from those who were excluded or deemed ineligible, as many as 12 percent of those satisfying UNRWA’s criteria never registered with the agency (Schiff, 1995).

Schiff, Benjamin N. (1995). Refugees unto the third generation: UN aid to Palestinians. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

Weighill, Louise (1995). ‘The future of assistance to Palestinian refugees’. In: Asian Affairs 26.3, pp. 259–69.

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