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James G. Lindsay

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Also available in:
  • العربية

James G. Lindsay was a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute from 2007-2008, focusing on Palestinian refugee issues and UN humanitarian assistance. During 2000-2007, he served with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which carries out relief and public works projects for Palestinian refugees in the Near East. From 2002, Mr. Lindsay, as legal advisor and general counsel, oversaw all UNRWA legal activities, from aid contracts to relations with Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority.

Mr. Lindsay spent twenty years as an attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, with assignments in the Internal Security, Appellate and Asset Forfeiture Sections, as well as in the Washington, DC and Miami United States Attorney's offices. For eight years, from 1985 to 1994, he was seconded to the Multinational Force and Observers in Sinai, serving as the force counsel for legal and treaty affairs. In 2000 he took early retirement from the Department of Justice to join UNRWA in Gaza.

An infantry officer in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1970, Mr. Lindsay earned a juris doctorate from the University of Missouri School of Law and a master's degree in Southeast Asian history from the University of Hawaii.

Recent Policy Analysis by James G. Lindsay

UNRWA workers at Nuseirat camp, Gaza, after Israeli strike (left); French diplomat Catherine Colonna (right)
In-Depth Reports
Evaluating UNRWA After the Colonna Report
Jun 27, 2024
◆
  • James G. Lindsay
A damaged UNRWA building in Gaza City.
In-Depth Reports
Options for UNRWA:
From Systemic Reform to Dissolution
Mar 21, 2024
◆
  • James G. Lindsay
Brief Analysis
A Missed Opportunity in America’s Refunding of UNRWA
Sep 2, 2021
◆
  • James G. Lindsay
Brief Analysis
UNRWA Funding Cutoff: What Next?
Sep 6, 2018
◆
  • James G. Lindsay
Brief Analysis
UNRWA Nears Sixty:
Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem?
Feb 6, 2009
◆
  • James G. Lindsay
In-Depth Reports
Fixing UNRWA:
Repairing the UN's Troubled System of Aid to Palestinian Refugees
Jan 26, 2009
◆
  • James G. Lindsay
All Policy Analysis by James G. Lindsay
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