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166 Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (2006-2007) 1967 Palestinian refugees was raised in the peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel in the late 1970s, and in the interim negotiations of the Madrid-Oslo process, but remained unresolved. It must also be noted that Palestinian refugees who remained in the territory that became Israel as a result of the 1948 war were integral to the “refugee question” addressed in the first round of UN-facilitated negotiations. Soon after these talks collapsed, UNRWA transferred their records to Israel in 1952. 3 One result was that refugees in Israel ceased to be considered refugees and thus part of the “Palestinian refugee question” by the United Nations and the international community. As “internally displaced persons’, they were excluded from negotiations in the Madrid-Oslo process. Palestinians internally displaced in the OPT since 1967 as a result of war and occupation have not been recognized as a category of concern by the international community. During the peace negotiations in the late 1990s, the PLO demanded that Israel issue a block payment of compensation for damages incurred by Palestinians (including IDPs) in the OPT during decades of military occupation. However, the right of IDPs to return and restitution was considered a matter best addressed by the incumbent independent state of Palestine. Failure to achieve Palestinian sovereignty in the OPT, compounded by Israel’s regime of occupation and colonization, means that Palestinian displacement in the OPT remains ongoing, while the rights of IDPs have not yet been recognized. Demonstration against Israel’s War on Lebanon, Ramallah, August 2006. © Anne Paq/Activestills. 5.2.1 Negotiations concerning the 1948 Palestinian Refugees 1949–1952 Early peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab states began in 1949 and ended in 1952. Negotiations were facilitated by the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) and based on UN General Assembly Resolution 194(III). Two UNCCP-facilitated peace conferences in Lausanne (1949) and Paris (1951) aimed to achieve a permanent solution for Palestinian refugees and a comprehensive peace agreement. Although the question of Palestinian refugees featured centrally in these negotiations, Palestinians did not enjoy direct representation. The 1949 conference in Lausanne was held to draw up details of a final and comprehensive peace agreement, and included territorial questions, the status of Jerusalem and the refugee issue. Arab delegates maintained that Israel’s recognition of the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and receive
Politics and the Question of Palestinian Refugees and IDPs compensation, as provided for in Resolution 194, was a condition for comprehensive peace negotiations. 4 The UNCCP considered that it had a specific mandate to resolve the refugee question, and was willing to press Israel to accept the principles laid out in Resolution 194. 5 Israel, however, refused to accept these principles (the right of return, in particular) and insisted that the refugee question should be addressed only as part of the negotiations concerning an overall peace settlement. 6 Israel advised the conference that it could re-admit up to 100,000 refugees in the context of a comprehensive agreement, but reserved the right to resettle the repatriated refugees in locations of its choosing. 7 Both the UNCCP and the Arab representatives found the Israeli proposal unsatisfactory. A request by the Arab delegations for the immediate return of all refugees originating from territory allotted to the “Arab State” under the 1947 UN Partition Plan was also rejected by Israel. 8 The UNCCP subsequently tried to facilitate agreement by means of a memorandum that proposed that “the solution of the refugee problem should be sought in the repatriation of refugees in Israel-controlled territory and in the resettlement in Arab countries or in the area of Palestine not under Israel’s control of those not repatriated.” 9 While Arab delegates agreed to negotiate on this basis, the Israeli delegates said that they would discuss the proposal only if “the solution of the refugee problem was to be sought primarily in resettlement in Arab territory.” 10 In other words, while Arab states and the UNCCP agreed that the choice was between “repatriation and compensation for damages suffered, on the one hand, or no return and compensation for all property left behind, on the other”, Israel held that “the desirability of achieving demographic homogeneity in order to avoid minority problems was the principle which should govern the process of repatriation.” 11 According to the UNCCP, Israel’s position was a result of its “unwillingness to relinquish the land that belonged to the refugees.” 12 In 1951, a second peace conference was convened in Paris. Israel argued that security, political and economic concerns made the return of refugees impossible, and that “the integration of the refugees in the national life of Israel was incompatible with present realities.” 13 Arab states maintained that “there could be no limitation on the return of the refugees” and linked Israel’s recognition of the right of return of Palestinian refugees to the prospects for peace in the Middle East. 14 The UNCCP continued to envisage both repatriation of refugees to Israel and integration in Arab countries as components of a solution of the refugee question. 15 However, the UNCCP now also argued that because the conditions in Israel had changed considerably since 1948, repatriation of refugees would have to take into consideration “the possibilities of the integration of the returning refugees into the national life of Israel”, 16 thereby adding absorption capacity as a new criteria for determining the number of Palestinian refugees eligible to return. Due to the incompatibility of the positions taken by the parties, the UNCCP further suggested that, even at the cost of straying from the letter of Resolution 194, the parties had “to depart from their original positions in order to make possible practical and realistic arrangements towards the solution of the refugee problem.” 17 Soon thereafter, the UNCCP recognized that it had failed in its task. Probably as a result of the failure of the Paris conference, it concluded in 1951 that it had “been unable to make substantial progress in the task given to it by the General Assembly of assisting the parties to the Palestine dispute towards a final settlement of all questions outstanding between them.” 18 1991–2001 Political negotiations on the question of Palestinian refugees were resumed, based on the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991 and the 1993 Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, which established, for the first time, direct Palestinian representation through the PLO. The Madrid-Oslo process set up two separate tracks to address the refugee issue: a political bilateral track, and a more technical multilateral track formed in 1992 to address regional issues such as water, regional economic development, arms control, and refugees. Under Article V of the Declaration of Principles, bilateral negotiations on the 1948 refugee issue were to be part of the negotiations concerning a final peace agreement (issues to be discussed at the final stage of the negotiations), and to begin no later than three years after the beginning of the interim period (focused on limited self-government). 19 The Refugee Working Group (RWG) headed (“shepherded”) by Canada was established in the first round of multilateral 167
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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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(hospitals and medical centres). Im
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Table 2.15: Percentage of Children
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Assistance Chapter Three UNRWA Food
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3.1 National, Regional and Internat
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Assistance According to LASC Resolu
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Assistance Table 3.1: Main sources
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UNRWA’s relationship with host go
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3.2 Main Forms of Assistance - Deve
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Assistance Palestinian refugees in
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Assistance 2005, the Syrian governm
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In Syria, the government provided l
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UNRWA Funding Assistance UNRWA’s
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Assistance and equipment in schools
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Table 3.9: Summary of Emergency App
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Assistance 27 Luigi De Martino, “
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Assistance 78 Report of the Commiss
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Protection Chapter Four Israeli sol
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Protection Almost 60 years after th
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Protection While there is no formal
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Protection immediate return of all
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2.2.2 The Right to Restitution Prot
Page 137 and 138: Protection It is clear from the phr
Page 139 and 140: Protection of All Forms of Racial D
Page 141 and 142: Protection Palestinian citizens. Fo
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: 5.1 Refugees/IDPs and Peace Agreeme
Page 191 and 192: Politics and the Question of Palest
Page 195 and 196: The Road Map provides an ambiguous
Page 197 and 198: 5.3.7 The League of Arab States The
Page 201 and 202: Demonstration, London, 9 June 2007
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