‘When America stops funding, they are killing a population of refugees’, says Wafa El Hajj,a Palestinian refugee who uses UNRWA’s essential - but deteriorating - medical services. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon don’t have citizens’ rights - they can’t use normal state services and are banned from most white-collar jobs. ‘UNRWA is the hope of the refugees, it’s all we have ... it’s our only shelter’, Wafa emphasises. Amid the US administration’s claims that refugees have become too dependent on UNRWA, Claudio Cordone, Director of UNRWA’s affairs in Lebanon, says: ‘The reality is that refugees are going to exist whether UNRWA disappears or not. UNRWA is not a solution. UNRWA is a band aid, it’s a temporary solution.’