BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

Protection
budget, see UNGAOR, 6th Sess., Annexes, Agenda Item 24(a), UN Doc. A/2071 (1952), para. 1.
174 United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Fourteenth Progress Report, from 31 December 1953 to 31 December 1954,
A/2897 3, March 1955, para. 1.
175 For more details, see Rempel, Terry, The United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) and a Durable Solution for Palestinian
Refugees. Information and Discussion Brief No. 5. Bethlehem: BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee
Rights, 2000.
176 The Technical Committee visited refugee camps in the West Bank (Jericho, Hebron and Bethlehem), Lebanon (Homs, Gourard, Wavell
and Anjar), and five camps in Gaza, in order to ascertain the wishes and opinions of the refugees. Members of the Committee also consulted
with experts from the American University of Beirut, former Mandate officials, and other significant persons in the Middle East.
177 Refugees were defined according to Article 1: “Are to be considered as refugees under paragraph 11 of the General Assembly resolution of
11 December 1948 persons of Arab origin who, after 29 November 1947, left territory at present under the control of the Israel authorities
and who were Palestinian citizens at that date. Are also to be considered as refugees under the said paragraph stateless persons of Arab
origin who after 29 November 1947 left the aforementioned territory where they had been settled up to that date.[...]” and also Article
2: “The following shall be considered as covered by the provisions of Article 1 above: 1. Persons of Arab origin who left the said territory
after 6 August 1924 and before 29 November 1947 and who at that latter date were Palestinian citizens; 2. Persons of Arab origin who
left the territory in question before 6 August 1924 and who, having opted for Palestinian citizenship, retained that citizenship up to
29 November 1947, Articles 1-2.” Addendum to Definition of a “Refugee” under Paragraph 11 of General Assembly Resolution of 11
December 1948 (Prepared by the Legal Advisor), UN Doc. W/61/Add.1, 29 May 1951.
178 United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Historical Survey of Efforts of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for
Palestine to Secure the Implementation of Paragraph 11 of the General Assembly Resolution 194 (III), A/AC.25/W.81/Rev.2, 2 October
1961, para. 39. Report of the Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East, 21 st progress report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, 8 December 1962–31 October 1963, A/5545, 1
November 1963. See also BADIL Resource Center, “The United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine and a Durable Solution
for Palestine Refugees,” working paper prepared for UN Conference on Palestine Refugees, 26–27 April 2000, p. 3.
179 These included microphotographs of registers of title supplemented by the original registers when the microfilm was missing or defective;
Registers of Deeds; Tax Distribution Lists and, failing these, taxpayers’ registers; Field Valuation Sheets, and, failing these, valuation lists
and taxpayers’ registers; schedules of rights (in respect of blocks for which no registers of title had been prepared); parcel classification
schedules; land registrars’ returns of depositions; and village maps and block plans. For a comprehensive study, see Fischbach, Michael,
Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.
180 For a more detailed discussion of the records and associated problems, see Hadawi, Sami, Palestinian Rights and Losses in 1948. London:
Saqi Books, 1988; and Abdelrazek, Adnan, “Modernizing the Refugee Land Records: Advantages and Pitfalls,” Reinterpreting the Historical
Record: The uses of Palestinian Refugee Archives for Social Science Research and Policy Analysis. Tamari, Salim and Elia Zureik (eds.) Jerusalem:
Institute of Jerusalem Studies/Institute of Palestine Studies, 2001, pp. 173–181.
181 Abu Sitta, Salman, The Palestinian Right to Return: Sacred, Legal and Possible. 2 nd edition. London: The Palestinian Return Centre, 1999,
p. 17.
182 The UNCCP established the Economic Survey Mission to examine the economic situation in the countries affected by the 1948 war, and
make recommendations for an integrated programme to enable concerned governments to: overcome economic dislocations caused by
the war; facilitate the repatriation, resettlement, and economic and social rehabilitation of refugees; and make payment of compensation
and promote economic conditions conducive to the maintenance of peace and security in the region.
183 Fischbach, Michael, Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. New York: Columbia University
Press, 2003.
184 Historical Survey of Efforts of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine to Secure the Implementation of Paragraph 11 of General
Assembly Resolution 194(III): The Question of Reintegration by Repatriation or Resettlement, Working Paper Prepared by the Secretariat, UN
Doc. A/AC.25/W.82/Rev. 1, 2 October 1961, para. 31.
185 UNRWA and UNHCR, The United Nations and Palestinian Refugees, January 2007, p. 5.
186 See UN, Report of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East,
1 January–31 December 2005, General Assembly, Sixty-first Session, Suppl. No. 13(A/61/13), New York, 2006, pp. xi, 1.
187 UN, Report of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, 1
January–31 December 2005, General Assembly, Sixty-first Session, Suppl. No. 13(A/61/13), New York, 2006, p. 1.
188 “Palestine refugee” is the working definition of 1948 Palestinian refugees registered with the UNRWA. It serves to distinguish UNRWA
registered refugees from non-registered refugees. According to UNRWA, Palestine refugees “shall mean any person whose normal place
of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of
the 1948 conflict.” “Consolidated Registration Instructions” (CRI), 1 January, 1993, Annex 2, para. 2.13.
189 UNRWA, figures as of 31 March 2006. Available at: http://www.un.org/unrwa/publications/index.html
190 It should be noted that UNRWA’s database is not statistically valid, as reporting is voluntary. UNRWA collects statistics for internal
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