The Democratic Front’s Department of UNRWA Affairs Presents an Action Plan to Protect UNRWA Politically and Financially

With the continuation of the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation against our people in Gaza and the West Bank—accompanied by a fascist policy of starvation, forced displacement, and ethnic cleansing—the campaign to target UNRWA and its symbolism continues. UNRWA stands as an international witness to the existence of the Palestinian refugee issue and their right to return to their homes and properties under Resolution 194.
What UNRWA is currently facing is no longer a passing financial crisis, as in the past, but rather a carefully crafted political project, led by the occupation with direct support from the U.S. administration. Its aim is to erase the Palestinian refugee question from any future settlement, strip the Agency of its political and legal content, and transform it into a distorted service-providing body disconnected from its founding context.
The threat has grown even more serious after the release of the Agency’s strategic review conducted by international expert Ian Martin, which recommended four alternative options—all of which would lead to UNRWA’s dissolution and the elimination of the refugee issue:
1) Maintaining the status quo without a fundamental solution, which would gradually bankrupt the Agency.
2) Reducing services and transferring some functions to other actors, such as the Palestinian Authority, host countries, or even alternative organizations, as previously suggested.
3) Creating an office and executive board to support the Commissioner-General.
4) Retaining UNRWA’s role as custodian of refugee rights while gradually transferring services to other parties.
Palestinian authorities and all those keen on upholding the rights of Palestinian refugees have agreed that these options are illegal, inhumane, and place UNRWA in an uncertain future. More dangerously, the recent statements of the Commissioner-General himself confirmed that he is studying these four options and may adopt one of them—particularly the option of transferring services to the PA or host countries. This is a clear declaration of intent to terminate UNRWA and cancel its UN mandate.
As the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly approaches on 22 September 2025, there is an urgent need for international, Arab, and Palestinian mobilization to ensure the renewal of UNRWA’s political and financial mandate and to defeat all suspicious schemes that attempt to reduce it to a hollow service agency devoid of its political and legal essence.
In this context, we present an urgent action plan on three levels, culminating in the formation of an international, Arab, and Palestinian alliance to counter the plan to abolish UNRWA and to secure political and financial protection for it.
First: At the Palestinian level:
– Unify the Palestinian position across all political, union, and popular spectrums in the battle to defend UNRWA, reject all merger/reduction schemes and manipulations of its UN mandate, and work toward the creation of a national body specialized in defending UNRWA.
– Reinforce the stance expressed by the PLO Department of Refugee Affairs and all segments of our people rejecting the four options due to their direct threats to UNRWA and the right of return.
– Launch an organized popular movement in and outside the camps under the slogan: “UNRWA is a Witness, and the Right of Return Will Not Fall.”
Second: At the Arab level:
– The PLO Department of Refugee Affairs, in coordination with host countries, should call on the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to shoulder their historic, political, and financial responsibilities toward UNRWA, considering its support as part of the battle to defend Palestine.
– The Department of Refugee Affairs should initiate an urgent meeting of Arab host countries to coordinate positions, including engaging with world powers to ensure renewal of UNRWA’s mandate by a large majority, and to develop a joint action strategy in defense of the Agency.
– Call on Arab parliaments and public opinion to engage with decision-making capitals to strengthen UNRWA both financially and politically.
Third: At the international level:
– Demand that donor countries maintain their financial commitments and increase contributions to prevent budget deficits caused by the U.S. funding cut.
– Form an international political, parliamentary, and human rights coalition in support of UNRWA and the right of return, including civil society organizations, human rights groups, international parliaments, political parties, and community frameworks.
– Call on members of the UN General Assembly in its upcoming session to renew their political and financial commitment to UNRWA under its UN mandate (Resolution 302), recognizing it as an indispensable international institution until return is achieved.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s Department of UNRWA Affairs affirms that defending UNRWA is the first line of defense for the right of return under UN Resolution 194. It therefore calls on all Palestinian, Arab, and international parties to respond swiftly to this urgent plan and to treat it as a decisive battle against liquidation projects and in defense of the inalienable rights of Palestinian refugees.
We also call on all Palestinian frameworks working in defense of UNRWA and the right of return to set aside differences and unite in the defense of the Agency, striving as much as possible to develop unified strategies, especially in the diaspora, and to organize unified popular mobilizations that send strong messages to international actors that refugees are firmly committed to their right of return and its political and legal standing, with UNRWA and its services at the forefront.