UNRWA: Palestine is the world's longest-running refugee crisis "yet unresolved"

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Saturday that the plight of Palestinian refugees remains "the world's longest-standing unresolved refugee crisis," calling on the international community to find a "just and lasting solution" for them.

This came in a tweet published by the UN organization on its X platform page, the day after World Refugee Day, which falls on June 20 of each year.

UNRWA added: "The plight of Palestine refugees remains the world's longest-running unresolved refugee crisis."

She continued, "It is time to end this cycle. Displacement and war have affected the lives of generations of Palestinian families."

She called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities and contribute to "finding a just and lasting solution to the plight of Palestinian refugees."

In a statement published on Friday, the UN agency said: "In 1948 (the Nakba), more than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their towns and villages."

She continued: "After 77 years, Palestinians are still being subjected to forced displacement."

UNRWA records as of August 2023 indicate that the number of registered Palestinian refugees is approximately 5.9 million, of whom approximately 2.5 million reside in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, representing approximately 42% of the total number of registered refugees (15% in the West Bank and 27% in Gaza), according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

In Arab countries, data shows that approximately 40% of Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA reside in Jordan, compared to 10% in Syria and 8% in Lebanon, according to the same source.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics stated that these figures are minimum estimates, as they do not include Palestinian refugees not registered with the agency, including those displaced after 1949 until the eve of the June 1967 war, according to UNRWA's definition, as well as those displaced during the aforementioned war who were not originally refugees.

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