Palestinian Refugees and UNRWA
Between November 1947 and 1949, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel. Counts made at the time differ. Israel gave about 520,000, a United Nations technical committee gave 711,000, and Arab officials gave 900,000 to 1 million. On 11 December 1948, UN General Assembly Resolution 194 said that refugees wishing to return home and live at peace should be allowed to do so, and that those not returning should be compensated. The Assembly created UNRWA on 8 December 1949, and the agency began work on 1 May 1950. In the June 1967 war, the UN counted about 113,000 registered refugees and 210,000 other people displaced. UNRWA registers the descendants of refugee men, so about 5.9 million people are on its rolls. Critics say this rule enlarges the problem. UNRWA says it matches other long refugee crises. The agency's voluntary funding fell sharply after 2024. Historians still disagree about why the 1948 refugees left.
