UNRWA

A general strike by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Balata camp, in the West Bank city of Nablus, January 24, 2023. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

UNRWA strike spotlights spiraling conditions in West Bank refugee camps

The protest by workers at the UN agency comes amid funding cuts and escalating pressure to 'eliminate the Palestinian refugee issue.'

By Basil Adra February 14, 2023

Palestinian protesters burn a photo of Bahrain's ruler Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, June 25, 2019. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Amid normalization with Israel, what remains of Gulf-Palestine relations?

Gulf states have a complex history of engagement with the Palestinian cause. Now, regional shifts are forcing them to reassess their role.

By Katie Wachsberger February 1, 2022

UNRWA staff members protest against budget cuts outside the UNRWA offices in Gaza City, April 14, 2019. (Hassan Jedi/Flash90)

International law sides with Palestinian refugees. But can it solve their plight?

A new book dives into the myriad laws that protect Palestinian refugees and their right of return. Its proposed solution, though, may be hard to swallow.

By Sam Bahour May 2, 2021

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Illustration by Nerian Keywan.

No dispossessions left to count

It is the Palestinian refugee who reminds us, as we reckon with our altered reality, that yearning for what we once knew is hardly an act of obstinacy. It is what sustains us. And for many, the cost of abandoning this self-consolation is just too high.

By Samer Badawi December 29, 2020

Egyptians seen on a public bus in Cairo during the coronavirus pandemic, April 6, 2020. (Mohamed Hozyen)

‘I want to be seen’: Coronavirus lockdown stories from across the Middle East

With a computer, Zoom, and a list of questions, I spoke to young people across the region about how their lives are being affected by COVID-19.

By Yuval Abraham May 6, 2020

View of a destroyed house after Israeli air strikes targeted a nearby Hamas site on Monday, in Gaza City, on March 26, 2019. (Abed Rahim Khatib/ Flash90)

The UN predicted Gaza would be unlivable by 2020. They were right.

Israel is trying to keep Gaza 'quiet' by applying new calculations to make life survivable — without allowing the people to truly live.

By Tania Hary December 31, 2019

Palestinian women cross the Qalandiya checkpoint, outside of the West bank city of Ramallah, on June 23, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

With US aid cuts, Palestinian women pay biggest price

For years, the United States was the largest aid donor to Palestinians. With funding to health, education and sanitation programs brought to a sudden halt, it’s women and girls who are hit the hardest. When Nawal’s husband had to stop working two years ago due to severe stomach pains, she became the family’s primary provider. Nawal, who asked…

By Henriette Chacar February 7, 2019

Palestinian refugees play in an impoverished area in Gaza City on January 17, 2018, after the White House froze tens of millions of dollars in aid to UNRWA. (Wissam Nassar/Flash90)

Humanitarian aid to Palestinians ‘at an all-time low,’ UN warns

The funding crisis is particularly devastating in the Gaza Strip, where humanitarian officials say basic services such as education, health, and food security have been reduced to a minimum. By Fidaa Shurrab Funding for humanitarian activities in the occupied Palestinian territories is “at an all-time low,” according to a UN agency responsible for humanitarian affairs in…

By +972 Magazine October 25, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House on September 13, 1993. (Vince Musi/The White House)

The Oslo era is finally over, but it only gets worse from here

In theory, the end of Oslo should be a welcome development. In practice, there is little to celebrate. There is something unsettling about the way the 25-year anniversary since the signing of the Oslo Accords is being marked — neither eulogy nor longing, and without anyone having any clue what lies ahead. There is one…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man September 14, 2018

Palestinians march through the streets of Bethlehem to commemorate the Nakba, May 14, 2013. (Photo by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Trump’s endgame in Palestine

Washington defunding the Palestinian refugee agency is not merely an attack on UNRWA, as serious as that may be. It is an attempt to destroy the Palestinian national movement. By Mitchell Plitnick Late last month, the State Department announced it would end all funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN…

By +972 Magazine September 9, 2018

Palestinians protesting job cuts at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the West Bank city of Nablus, on March 15, 2018. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Politicizing Palestinian refugees won’t make them go away

By defunding UNRWA and attempting to define Palestinian refugees out of existence, the Trump administration is only shooting the messenger. UNRWA is a product, not the source, of the Palestinian refugee problem. By Zena Agha Last Friday, the Trump administration announced that the United States would no longer fund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency…

By +972 Magazine September 7, 2018

US President Donald Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to Trump departure to Rome at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on May 23, 2017. (Kobi Gideon / GPO)

Trump cannot simply erase the Palestinian right of return

The American president’s decision to defund the Palestinian refugee agency is an attempt to accomplish something Israeli leaders have been trying for the better part of a century. By James Zogby First, the Trump Administration “took Jerusalem off the table.” Now, in an especially dangerous display of recklessness, it has announced its intention to do…

By +972 Magazine September 5, 2018

Shada Ardaa, 9, was wounded by an Israeli air strike in Rafah, Gaza strip, An-Najah hospital, Nablus, West Bank, August 5, 2014. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

Medical care for children in Gaza headed for the dark ages

What ails the Gaza Strip is not an incurable disease. We know the antidote that could immediately begin rebuilding the structural determinants of children’s right to life and health. By Priscilla Wathington Children in the Gaza Strip today are more likely to develop health problems than ever before but less likely to access medical care. And…

By +972 Magazine April 5, 2018