BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

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Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (2006-2007)
5.2.2 Negotiations Concerning the 1967 Refugees
Early negotiations concerning a solution to the plight of Palestinians displaced in the June 1967 war began
in August 1967 between Jordan, host of the majority of Palestinians displaced in 1967, and Israel, which had
military control of the newly occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The negotiations were facilitated by the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); neither Palestinians nor the PLO were officially represented
at these talks. The two parties agreed to a process whereby refugees could submit applications for return to
their places of origin in the OPT. Israel, however, retained overall control of the admission of refugees. Few
were able to return and re-establish residence under this short-lived process (see Chapter Four).
More than a decade later, the issue of the 1967 Palestinian refugees re-emerged in the context of peace
negotiations between Israel and Egypt. The peace agreement concluded in 1978 (Camp David Agreement)
includes provisions for a “Continuing Committee” composed of representatives of Egypt, Israel, Jordan and
the Palestinians to discuss the “modalities of admission of persons displaced from the West Bank and Gaza
in 1967.” 32 However, this Committee was not established. Egypt and Israel also agreed to work with each
other and interested parties towards a “prompt, just and permanent implementation of the resolution of
the refugee problem.” 33 The Camp David Agreement did not include explicit provisions on the Palestinian
refugees displaced in 1948. The UN Commission on Human Rights subsequently declared that “the validity
of agreements purporting to solve the problem of Palestine requires that they be within the framework of
the United Nations and its Charter and its resolutions” and rejected “those provisions of the accords which
ignore, infringe upon, violate or deny the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to
self-determination and the right of return.” 34
Fifteen years later, the 1993 Declaration of Principles between Israel and the PLO reiterated the provisions
for a Continuing Committee stipulated in the Camp David Agreement to discuss the admission of persons
displaced from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967. 35 This was reaffirmed by the 1994 peace agreement
between Israel and Jordan, which provided that the matter be resolved “in a quadripartite committee together
with Egypt and the Palestinians” in accordance with international law. 36 The Continuing Committee
(“Quadripartite Committee”), composed of Israel, the PLO, Jordan and Egypt, was subsequently established
under the 1994 Agreement on the Gaza Strip and Jericho Area to “decide by agreement on the modalities of
admission of persons displaced from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967, together with necessary
measures to prevent disruption and disorder.” 37 The 1993 Declaration of Principles and the 1994 Agreement
on the Gaza Strip and Jericho Area do not, however, refer to relevant resolutions of the United Nations, such
as UN Security Council Resolution 237, nor do they affirm that the refugee issue should be resolved in
accordance with international law.
During early meetings of the Continuing Committee, delegates of the PLO and Arab states were optimistic
that Israel would agree to repatriation of the “1967 Displaced Persons” (the term was carefully chosen to
distinguish the latter from the “more complex” category of the 1948 Palestinian refugees), as the former group
would return to the OPT only – i.e., the area reserved for Palestinian sovereignty. However, the Committee was
unable to agree upon a definition of “displaced persons” and consequently on the number of returnees among
this group of Palestinian refugees. Israel did not appear eager to resolve the issue of 1967 refugees through
the Continuing Committee, 38 mainly due to concerns about setting a precedent for the negotiations on the
1948 Palestinian refugees slated to follow in the final round of talks. Thus, the Committee first envisaged
in 1978 and established only in 1994 had by 1997 practically ground to a halt. In 2000, in the shadow of
the permanent status negotiations, it ceased to exist. 39 The issue of the 1967 Palestinian refugees, which was
supposed to be resolved during the interim period of the Madrid-Oslo process, remains unresolved.