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118 Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (2006-2007) 4.3 Protection in Israel and the 1967-occupied Palestinian Territory Instruments and Mechanisms Unlike Arab host states, Israel has a special obligation to protect Palestinian refugees and IDPs for a number of reasons: Israel as a successor state to pre-1948 Palestine is the country of origin of the majority of Palestinian refugees and IDPs; it has played a direct role in their protracted forced displacement; and a heightened protection regime applies under international humanitarian law to those Palestinian civilians, including refugees and IDPs, residing in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel thus has a primary obligation to protect, including the facilitation of durable solutions. Israel is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention (but not to the 1967 Protocol), but does not apply this in the case of Palestinian refugees. Neither does Israel apply the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement to internally displaced Palestinians. Israel is a signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention, but does not recognize its de jure applicability to the occupied Palestinian territory, 63 and argues that international human rights conventions do not apply to their population. The Israeli High Court has however accepted the de facto application of certain provisions to the OPT. 4.3.1 Protection of Palestinian Refugees and IDPs in Israel a) The right to protection from persecution and forcible displacement Israel’s domestic law is designed to exclude Palestinian refugees and IDPs from the right of return, citizenship/ residency rights, and the right to housing and property restitution. Israel’s domestic law affords preferential treatment to Jews in accordance with Israel’s status as a “Jewish state”. 64 Israel thereby violates its obligation to facilitate repatriation and restitution for Palestinian refugees and IDPs. Moreover, discriminatory laws and policies violate the protected rights of all Palestinian citizens of Israel (including those of Palestinian IDPs). Israeli policeman guarding a bulldozer demolishing Palestinian homes in the Naqab. April 2005. (© source: akhbarna.com) More than a quarter of a million internally displaced Palestinians reside in Israel. Internally displaced Palestinians are citizens of Israel. 65 Israel’s domestic law therefore regulates protection. The number of IDPs in Israel continues to increase as a result of home demolition and land confiscation. Recent examples include the arbitrary displacement and forced resettlement of Bedouin Palestinian citizens to “concentration cities” in the Naqab (Negev) under the guise of “development plans” for Jews only. Israel thus fails to protect Palestinian citizens from arbitrary displacement. (See Chapter One) Moreover, discrimination and forcible displacement are encouraged by the state of Israel through tolerance of racist public campaigns, headed by members of the political establishment in Israel, that call for the “transfer” of
Protection Palestinian citizens. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has for instance warned that once the Wall is completed, Israel will begin to expel “illegal Arabs” from Israel, including thousands of Palestinians awaiting determination of family reunification process. 66 b) The rights to return and citizenship/residency Palestinians, including IDPs, who remained in Israel after the 1948 war were issued citizenship under the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (1952) and in line with the policy to exclude claims to refugee and IDP rights. This law effectively excludes all Palestinians displaced outside the borders of the state in 1948 from returning and acquiring citizenship in Israel, de facto denationalizing them. The law does not entitle Palestinian citizens, including IDPs, to reunite with family members residing abroad. In contrast, all Jewish people, regardless of their national origin or citizenship, have the right to residency and citizenship in Israel under the Law of Return (1950). c) The right to family reunification Palestinian citizens, including IDPs, who marry a Palestinian resident of the 1967-occupied Palestinian territory cannot obtain permission for family reunification and may face difficulties in retaining their citizenship and residency status in Israel. According to the latest amendment to the 1952 Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (2005), only Palestinian men aged 35 and older and women aged 25 and older are eligible for temporary visit permits to Israel. They are, however, prevented from submitting applications for residency or citizenship. d) The right to housing and property Palestinian citizens, including IDPs, have the right to own property. However, Israel has adopted a series of land laws to facilitate the confiscation and transfer of immovable property owned by Palestinians to the state, the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and the Jewish National Fund (JNF). 67 Property held by the state, the WZO and the JNF is administered by the Israel Land Authority (ILA) and may not be transferred by sale or in any other manner. 68 Palestinian refugees and IDPs displaced in 1948 are considered “absentees” and “present absentees” under Israeli law with regard to property owned or used before 1948, and cannot repossess such property, which was transferred to the Custodian of Absentees’ Property and is now managed by the ILA. Israeli land laws have little effect on Jewish citizens, who do not usually own private land, and Jews may repossess property managed by the Custodian. e) The right to education and public services Palestinian citizens, including IDPs, have the right to public education free of charge. Israel’s public education system has two separate education streams, state secular and state religious (Jewish). Secular elementary and secondary education is conducted in separate schools for Palestinians and Jews. Schools serving the Palestinian public receive fewer resources and are obliged to present a curriculum that advances Jewish culture and Zionist ideology. 69 Public religious schools serve Jewish citizens only; there are no public religious schools for Palestinian Muslims and Christians. No Arabic-language university education is available, and Palestinians, including IDPs, are thus disadvantaged when taking university entrance exams. They also experience difficulty in paying university fees. In general, Palestinian citizens, including IDPs, have unequal access to public services in Israel. This is mainly as a result of informal discrimination, and also because they are excluded from services provided by agencies of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). These operate as private agencies abroad, but carry parastatal status in Israel under the terms of the Israel Lands Law (1960). 119
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1948 - 2008: 60 Years of the Palest
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1948 - 2008: 60 Years of the Palest
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Table of Contents Executive Summary
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Chapter Five: Politics and the Ques
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Executive Summary Palestinian refug
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Campaigns for boycott, divestment a
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6. Not to recognize the illegal sit
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Glossary Absentee A person who, at
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Jewish State A term used by Israel
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Refugee Office A sub-office establi
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Voluntariness The Wall and its Asso
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From the Nakba to the Present Day -
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1.1 Background Figure 1.1: Estimate
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1.2 From Mandate to Partition From
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In September 1947, the UN Special C
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Map 1.3: 1948 Depopulated Palestini
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1.4 Displacement after the 1948 War
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Both The Guardian and The London Ti
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Al-Tanaf refugee camp at the Syrian
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Chapter Two ‘Aida refugee camp, o
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2.1 Background Population Numbers,
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Population Numbers, Distribution an
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2.2 Distribution Population Numbers
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Figure 2.3: Estimates of the Number
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Table 2.4: Registered Refugees in O
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Map 2.1: Palestinian refugee commun
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Table 2.7: Distribution of Palestin
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Page 89 and 90: (hospitals and medical centres). Im
Page 91 and 92: Table 2.15: Percentage of Children
Page 93 and 94: Population Numbers, Distribution an
Page 99 and 100: Assistance Chapter Three UNRWA Food
Page 101 and 102: 3.1 National, Regional and Internat
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Page 105 and 106: Assistance Table 3.1: Main sources
Page 107 and 108: UNRWA’s relationship with host go
Page 109 and 110: 3.2 Main Forms of Assistance - Deve
Page 111 and 112: Assistance Palestinian refugees in
Page 113 and 114: Assistance 2005, the Syrian governm
Page 115 and 116: In Syria, the government provided l
Page 117 and 118: UNRWA Funding Assistance UNRWA’s
Page 119 and 120: Assistance and equipment in schools
Page 121 and 122: Table 3.9: Summary of Emergency App
Page 123 and 124: Assistance 27 Luigi De Martino, “
Page 125 and 126: Assistance 78 Report of the Commiss
Page 127 and 128: Protection Chapter Four Israeli sol
Page 129 and 130: Protection Almost 60 years after th
Page 131 and 132: Protection While there is no formal
Page 133 and 134: Protection immediate return of all
Page 135 and 136: 2.2.2 The Right to Restitution Prot
Page 137 and 138: Protection It is clear from the phr
Page 139: Protection of All Forms of Racial D
Page 143 and 144: ) The right to protection from pers
Page 145 and 146: Palestinian from the West Bank and
Page 147 and 148: Protection Investigations conducted
Page 149 and 150: Protection six months, unless they
Page 151 and 152: Protection Palestinian refugees in
Page 153 and 154: Protection Palestinian refugees in
Page 155 and 156: Protection In other countries, Arti
Page 157 and 158: Protection rights. If the refugee i
Page 159 and 160: 4.6.2 The United Nations Conciliati
Page 161 and 162: UNCCP activities related to restitu
Page 163 and 164: Table 4.2: Estimates of Palestinian
Page 165 and 166: Protection the occupied territory [
Page 167 and 168: Protection The UNHCR recognizes 194
Page 169 and 170: Protection the Rights of the Child
Page 171 and 172: Protection realization of the princ
Page 173 and 174: Protection Israel’s compliance wi
Page 175 and 176: Protection and Population Registry
Page 177 and 178: Protection Bank and to those who le
Page 179 and 180: Protection Right to Work in Lebanon
Page 181 and 182: Protection budget, see UNGAOR, 6th
Page 183 and 184: Protection 213 UNHCR, 2005 UNHCR St
Page 185 and 186: Al-’Aqaba, a Palestinian village
Page 187 and 188: 5.1 Refugees/IDPs and Peace Agreeme
Page 189 and 190: Politics and the Question of Palest
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Politics and the Question of Palest
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The Road Map provides an ambiguous
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5.3.7 The League of Arab States The
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Demonstration, London, 9 June 2007
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184 Survey of Palestinian Refugees
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