Oh, and UNRWA bears culpability for this situation as well:

Does UNRWA provide protection to Palestine refugees?

Protection is what UNRWA does to safeguard and advance the rights of Palestine refugees. In particular, UNRWA promotes respect for Palestine refugees’ rights through monitoring, reporting and intervention; delivers its services in a manner that promotes and respects the rights of beneficiaries; and ensures that protection needs are addressed in all aspects of programming, policies and procedures.

Apparently none of UNRWA’s officials on the ground seem to notice that Hamas has coopted their operations, openly operates in UNRWA refugee camps, using Palestinians as human shields, and is running up a body count right under UNRWA noses, despite UNRWA pledges to protect and advance the rights of Palestinian refugees. It’s a most curious way that UNRWA safeguards and advances the rights of those refugees; by supporting, condoning, and looking the other way as Hamas and other terrorist groups use the UNRWA as cover to carry out attacks against Israel.

The UNRWA mandate expires in 2011, and they think that it should be extended further. It should end. UNRWA has been one of the biggest reasons that the conflict persists; it fosters an environment that Hamas and other terrorists exploit, and a welfare class that knows of nothing else but handouts. The definition of refugee is such that grandchildren and great grandchildren of those who live in the camps are considered refugees, despite the fact that all that they’ve known is living in the camps because Palestinians refuse to settle in Gaza or the West Bank where they have civil administrative control.