No celebration as UNRWA turns 60

The UN agency which looks after Palestinian refugees commemorates its 60th anniversary this month. But there's no celebration. Prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement look dim and the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is keenly aware that its "temporary" mandate could continue for years, even decades. And some say the agency is part of the problem. UNRWA was set up in 1949 to look after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, who fled or were driven out of what became Israel during the first Arab-Israeli war. It was supposed to provide short-term shelter pending the refugees' right of return to their homes - a right enshrined in UN resolutions. But 60 years on, the Palestinian refugees are still stateless. UNRWA has now mushroomed into a huge institution providing housing, health services, education and emergency food supplies to over four million refugees in five countries.