Who is a Palestine Refugee?

To qualify for UNRWA registration, refugees must have been resident in Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and to have lost both their homes and their livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The descendants of 1948 refugees are also eligible for registration with UNRWA, but only refugees living in its five fields of operations (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and Gaza Strip) are eligible for the Agency's services. The number of registered refugees has grown from 914,000 in 1950 to over 4.2 million in 2005.