BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

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Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (2006-2007)
ICRC established refugee camps and undertook several census operations to register Palestinian refugees. It also
attempted to ensure protection for those refugees who had spontaneously returned to their homes inside Israel.
After the 1948 war, ICRC delegations in Tel Aviv (Jaffa), Amman, Cairo and Ramallah facilitated, to the extent
possible, repatriation and family reunification for Palestinian refugees. This included, for example, repatriating
1,500 inhabitants of Gerbis near Tulkarem. Many of the refugees whose return was assisted by the ICRC were
once again expelled by Israel. The ICRC eventually reduced its repatriation efforts, largely because Israel opposed
the return of refugees.
Following complaints by refugees, Red Cross officials requested that Israel close down offices located in refugee
camps that were offering subsidies to “voluntary emigrants” as a means of facilitating the continuing transfer of
the Palestinian population.
During the 1967 Israeli-Arab war, the ICRC focused on physical protection, prevention of forced displacement, and
tracing missing persons. The ICRC also obtained the consent of government representatives of Jordan and Israel to hold
a series of meetings to discuss the repatriation of Palestinian refugees displaced for the first time in 1967. Based on an
agreement concluded in August 1967, a process was established to facilitate the orderly return of these refugees. Israel
retained overall control, including the right to reject applications for so-called security purposes. This condition, together
with the narrow time frame of the agreement, limited the number of refugees able to participate in the repatriation scheme,
and infringed on the voluntary character of return. 159 Of more than 35,000 repatriation applications involving 140,000
persons, Israel approved just over 4,500 allowing approximately 20,000 refugees to return to their homes in the OPT. 160
Refugees displaced in 1948 and again in 1967 were not able to return.
The ICRC also made numerous appeals to Israeli officials concerning the destruction of Palestinian homes and villages,
calling upon Israel to cease demolition operations and assist in the reconstruction of homes, or pay compensation to the
owners. When Israel began systematic and widespread demolition of refugee shelters in Gaza camps in the 1970s, the
ICRC appealed to the Israeli government to cease the demolition programme.
In response to the Madrid-Oslo process in the 1990s, the ICRC changed its definition of the status of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip from occupied Palestinian territory to “occupied territory and autonomous territory”. International
protection activities vis-à-vis Israel were subsequently downgraded to monitoring, reporting and limited intervention
regarding humanitarian law. 161 The ICRC, however, continues to consider the Fourth Geneva Convention as applicable
to the whole occupied territory, including the “autonomous territory”.
The ICRC also works alongside UNRWA in the occupied territory and in Lebanon to provide protection and assistance
(relief and hygiene kits, food parcel and water distribution, rehabilitation projects) to refugees during periods of political
crises and popular unrest. Following the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada in September 2000, and Israel’s
military response to the uprising, for example, the ICRC deployed additional delegates in the 1967-occupied Palestinian
territory. Such delegates monitor developments and work closely with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS)
to ensure safe passage for emergency medical services. They also intervene with Israeli authorities to facilitate access of
Palestinian farmers to their lands near settlements or separated by the Wall.
The ICRC maintains that “the occupier must not interfere with the original economic and social structures, organization,
legal system or demography.” 162 The ICRC publicly expressed concern to Israel regarding “the destruction or expropriation
of Palestinian property and land and the forced displacement and isolation of Palestinian communities” as a result of the
construction of the Wall and its regime. 163 The ICRC also intervened with Israeli authorities concerning the case of the
Jahalin Bedouin living near the Jewish colony of Ma’ale Adumim in the occupied West Bank, whose traditional way of
life and culture are threatened by the construction of the Wall and new colonies. 164
The ICRC continues to provide emergency aid to families whose homes are demolished. In 2005, for instance, the ICRC
gave emergency household kits to 250 Palestinian families whose homes had been demolished in the OPT. 165