Role of The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) in the Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Critical Analysis

UNRWA is a neutral humanitarian agency of the United Nations, established in 1949, initially for a brief period, to specifically provide assistance and relief to the Palestinian refugees following “The 1948 Nakba”. However, considering escalating subsequent conflicts between Israel and Palestine as well as the need to address rapid and increasing poverty and unemployment, while protecting the rights of the Palestinian refugees and ensuring their holistic development, UNRWA over the years has progressively broadened its mandate to provide services like emergency programmes, relief & social services, healthcare, education, infrastructure development, camp improvement and microfinance and microenterprise programmes. Hence, this highlights UNRWA’s indelibly crucial role; as it was and is the sole agency offering humanitarian assistance and services to Palestinian refugees for almost 76 years now.