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Introduction The United Nations is establishing countless humanitarian, peace, cultural and other organizations and agencies around the world to monitor or actively engage in improving conditions in the region. One such agency is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, whose mission is to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, defend their interests and work to improve their lives.

1 The origin and development of the Palestinian refugee problem In order to understand and contextualize the Palestinian refugee issue, it is necessary to mention the historical causes of the whole conflict. This chapter lists the individual periods that were important in this issue. In addition to major turning points, such as the creation of the state of Israel and the Six Day War, to which this chapter defines the most space due to the largest refugee waves in these periods, there is also talk of conflicts between Jews and Arabs in general. The facts about the events following the Six-Day War, such as the black September 1970, the invasion of Lebanon, the Arab intifada and the situation in Israel and Palestine in the 21st century, are also briefly mentioned.

2 Establishment and function of UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established in 1949 by the United Nations to assist Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. He has been active since 1950 and is working with local governments to improve the situation of Palestinian refugees in health care, education, infrastructure, etc. He works mainly in refugee camps in Israel's neighboring countries - Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. and the Gaza Strip.

3 UNRWA's operations UNRWA operates in a total of five states, including the internal territory of the Palestinian Authority - the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Each territory has its own specifics, so UNRWA's assistance differs from the needs of refugees there. This chapter characterizes these areas and provides basic information on the Agency's activities.

4 The benefits of UNRWA programs The main goal of UNRWA is to positively change the living conditions of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. Therefore, this chapter looks at the successes already achieved in six different programs: education, health, supportive social services, small loans, maintenance of refugee camps and infrastructure, and most recently emergency projects.

5 Negative aspects of UNRWA's work So far, this work has focused on the positive effects of UNRWA and its successes. However, the negative aspects of the Agency's activities in the Middle East and its unfortunate consequences for the Palestinian population itself, as well as for the Western nations and the international community, which strongly support the Agency's activities, cannot be overlooked. This chapter evaluates the negatives and tries to present them clearly in individual subchapters. The information was drawn mainly from media sources, newspaper articles, statements of individual political leaders and critics of Middle Eastern politics.

Conclusion The situation in the Middle East worsened considerably in 1948 at the time of the proclamation of the state of Israel. As a result of this event, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and relocate to the surrounding areas, gaining the status of political refugees and refugees. The international community (in the form of the UN) responded promptly to this situation by setting up the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which aimed to stabilize the difficult living situation of these refugees.

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The United Nations establishes countless humanitarian, peace, cultural and other organizations and agencies around the world in order to monitor or directly actively work to improve conditions in the chosen area. One such agency is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, whose mission is to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, defend their interests and work to improve their lives.