Date: June 19, 2025
Abu Holi: The plight of Palestinian refugees is the longest and oldest in global refugee history
Dr. Ahmed Abu Holi, Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Head of the Refugee Affairs Department, stated that the issue of Palestinian refugees lies at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He stressed that resolving it in accordance with international legitimacy, particularly UN Resolution 194—which clearly affirms, in Article 11, the right of return and compensation as a free individual choice for every Palestinian refugee—would be a key entry point toward ending the conflict and a cornerstone for achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region.
In a statement marking World Refugee Day, which is observed annually on June 20, Abu Holi emphasized the need for the United Nations to assume its responsibilities toward Palestinian refugees by upholding their legitimate rights to return to their homes as stipulated in its resolutions, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees.
He added that while the UN commemorates World Refugee Day to draw global attention to the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict, and persecution, it must act urgently to end the suffering of Palestinian refugees. He called on the UN to rectify the historical injustice that has persisted for over seven and a half decades by enabling their return to the homes they were expelled from in 1948 and compensating them for years of displacement, deprivation, and loss of property—as outlined in Resolution 194.
Abu Holi highlighted that the Palestinian refugee issue is the oldest and most protracted refugee crisis in modern history. Despite this, the UN remains unable to resolve their plight or implement its own resolutions, especially Resolution 194, which is reaffirmed annually. He pointed out that the Palestinian people were subjected to one of the largest and most brutal ethnic cleansing campaigns in modern history in 1948, when they were forcibly expelled from their lands and homes amid massacres and the systematic settlement of Jews from around the world, who established their state on the ruins of destroyed Palestinian cities.
He stated that the number of registered Palestinian refugees now exceeds six million, according to the records of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and that they continue to await a resolution to their plight. He warned that the UN’s failure to implement its resolutions and provide protection has prolonged the refugee crisis, exacerbated their suffering, and encouraged the occupying power to commit further acts of ethnic cleansing, racial discrimination, and forced displacement in the West Bank, the 1948 occupied territories, and in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem. These acts, he said, violate the UN Charter and constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, requiring a firm UN response to deter the occupying power and halt these crimes.
Abu Holi noted the paradox in allowing Jews from across the world to immigrate to Palestine and settle there, while Palestinian refugees are denied their internationally recognized right to return to their homes, from which they were expelled in 1948, as affirmed in Resolution 194.
He explained that the Israeli government welcomes thousands of Jews annually from Western countries to settle on confiscated Palestinian lands. Meanwhile, Israel continues to escape accountability for its crimes due to the international community’s double standards. He accused Israel of pursuing the displacement of the Palestinian people through genocidal warfare, starvation in Gaza, and the destruction of refugee camps in the West Bank. He reaffirmed that the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homes, in accordance with Resolution 194, is a legitimate, inalienable right that cannot be compromised or traded, and that the international community must break its silence in the face of the prolonged suffering of the Palestinian people.
Abu Holi called on the United Nations, on the occasion of World Refugee Day, to revive the work of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) and activate its role in protecting Palestinian refugees wherever they are—just as it does with other refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention. He also urged the UN to explore mechanisms to advance the implementation of paragraph 11 of Resolution 194, which stipulates the return, compensation, and restitution of property for Palestinian refugees. He noted that the Commission still exists and continues to submit annual reports to the General Assembly on the inventory of refugee properties, despite Israel’s denial of the right of return.
He stressed the importance of the continued operation of UNRWA in providing indispensable services to Palestinian refugees under the mandate of UN Resolution 302, until a just solution to their issue is found. He called on donors to fund UNRWA’s budget to meet the growing needs of refugees and ensure them a dignified life.
Abu Holi further called on the international community to protect Palestinian refugees and safeguard UNRWA’s mandate from Israeli plans aimed at dismantling the agency and replacing it with alternative international organizations. He warned against Israel’s racist laws that ban UNRWA activities in occupied East Jerusalem, undermine its mandate in Gaza and the West Bank, and target its facilities and staff. He emphasized that protecting UNRWA’s mandate is a collective responsibility of all UN member states.
Finally, Dr. Abu Holi reiterated that the PLO’s position on the Palestinian refugee issue is principled and unwavering: it is committed to the right of return for refugees to their homes from which they were expelled in 1948, as outlined in UN Resolution 194. He reaffirmed the rejection of resettlement projects, forced displacement, and the concept of an alternative homeland, all of which seek to undermine this fundamental right.
