As Palestinian leaders prepare to seek UN recognition of statehood in September, there is increasing talk in the US, Israel and elsewhere of disbanding the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the UN Relief and Works Agency, and handing responsibility for Palestinian refugees to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Ramallah - PNN - UN agency brings back ‘Reliefs’ and ‘Works’ to its full name on its website after Palestinian protests at name change.

LEGAL STATUS

The legal right of Palestinians to return to their ancestral home from which they have been forcefully expelled or fled to save their lives is incontrovertible in international law. Unlike other refugees around the world, Palestinians have a much heightened exposure due to their intractable suffering, as well as the involvement of international players that willfully or otherwise played a part in their dispossession. Their legal right to return and reclaim their ancestral home however is continually obstructed by Israel, which has devised various legislative measures of its own to counter any implementation of the right of return and has also used the rights of refugees as a bargaining tool to secure political advantages.