BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

182
Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (2006-2007)
Rights-Based Approach to Peacebuilding and Reconciliation. Monaghan: Border Action, 2007.
42 See, for instance, UN Resolutions 61/113, 61/115, 61/118, 61/152 in Resolutions and Decisions of the General Assembly and
the Security Council Relating to the Question of Palestine, 2006, A/AC.183/L.2/Add.28, 21 May 2007.
43 The decision to prevent the return of Palestinian refugees was taken at a June 1948 Israeli cabinet meeting and confirmed in the
Reply of the Provisional Government of Israel to the Proposal Regarding the Return of Arab Refugees, 1 August 1948. Annexed to the
Progress Report of the UN Mediator on Palestine, supra note 22, Part One: The Mediation Effort, V. Refugees, para 8. Also see,
e.g., Labour and Likud Knesset Members, National Agreement Regarding the Negotiations on Permanent Settlement with the
Palestinians, 1 January 1997, reprinted in the Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. XXVI, Issue 103 (Spring 1997), p. 160. The agreement
states that Israel has a right to prevent the entry of Palestinian refugees into its sovereign territory, and includes Bill 1220,
which bans the right of return. English translation in Sultany, Nimer, Citizens without Citizenship: Mada’s First Annual Political
Monitoring Report: Israel and the Palestinian Minority 2000–2002. Haifa: Mada, 2003, p. 19.
44 For a summary of Israeli arguments advanced during the Madrid-Oslo peace process, see “The Right of Return – An Analysis of
Recent Debate in the Israeli Press,” BADIL Bulletin 5, April 2001.
45 Benn, Aluf, “Israel’s new frontier,”, Ha’aretz 25 February 2005.
46 Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Israel. CERD/C/ISR/CO/13 (2007), para. 16.
47 Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Israel. CERD/C/304/Add.45 (1998), para.
18. See also the 1998 concluding observations of the Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights.
48 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendation 22, Refugees and displaced persons (Fortyninth
session, 1996), UN Doc. A/51/18, annex VIII at 126 (1996), reprinted in Compilation of General Comments and General
Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, UN Doc. HRI\GEN\1\Rev.6 at 211 (2003).
49 Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 27, Freedom of movement (Art.12), (Sixty-seventh session, 1999), UN Doc.
CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.9 (1999), reprinted in Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human
Rights Treaty Bodies, UN Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.6 at 174 (2003), para. 20.
50 Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 27, Freedom of movement (Art.12), para. 19.
51 Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 27, Freedom of movement (Art.12), para. 21.
52 See, for e.g., Salman Abu Sitta, From Refugees to Citizens at Home, Palestine Land Society and Palestinian Return Center, London,
2001; and Salman Abu Sitta, “The feasibility of the right of return” at www.arts.mcgill.ca/MEPP/PRRN/papers/abusitta.html.
53 These three phases were envisaged as follows: (1) ending terror and violence, normalizing Palestinian life, and building Palestinian
institutions; (2) a period of transition towards creating an independent Palestinian state; (3) Israeli-Palestinian negotiations
aimed at a permanent status agreement. For more information, see “A Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State
Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” Available at: http://www.un.org/media/main/roadmap122002.html.
54 “Middle East Quartet, Taking Stock of Recent Developments, Stresses Urgent Need for Progress Towards Just, Comprehensive
Peace,” Department of Public Information, Secretary-General, SG/2116, 20 September 2006.
55 Letter dated 19 May 2004 from the Secretary-General to the President of the Security Council, Annex, Quartet Statement, New
York, 4 May 2004, UNSC S/2004/421, 24 May 2004.
56 “Israel’s Response to the Road Map,” 25 May 2003.
57 See Resolutions 61/113, 61/115, 61/118, 61/152 in Resolutions and Decisions of the General Assembly and the Security Council
Relating to the Question of Palestine, 2006, A/AC.183/L.2/Add.28, 21 May 2007. Also see United Nations and Relief Work
Agency for Palestine in the Near East, Report of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), A/60/476,
1 December 2005; Palestinian Self-Determination, Human Rights in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Addressed in Texts
Approved by Third Committee, Sixtieth General Assembly, 42nd Meeting, GA/SHC/3840; and The Right of the Palestinian People
to Self-Determination, Sixtieth Session, A/C.3/60/L.62, 8 November 2005.
58 “Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush’s letters in full”, Ha’aretz, 7 April 2004.
59 “Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush’s letters in full”, Ha’aretz, 7 April 2004.
60 For further details, see Rempel, Terry, “‘Known Knowns’ and ‘Unknown Unknowns’: the UN and Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,”
al Majdal, No. 33, Spring 2007, Bethlehem: Badil Resource Center, pp. 9–15.
61 See Resolutions 61/112, 61/113, 61/115 in Resolutions and Decisions of the General Assembly and the Security Council Relating
to the Question of Palestine, 2006, A/AC.183/L.2/Add.28, 21 May 2007.
62 Situation of and Assistance to Palestinian Women, Economic and Social Council, E/RES/2005/43, 10 August 2005, para. 4.
63 UN GA Resolution 61/119, “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory, including East Jerusalem,” cited in Resolutions and Decisions of the General Assembly and the Security Council Relating
to the Question of Palestine, 2006, A/AC.183/L.2/Add. 28, 21 May 2007.
64 UNSC Resolution 237, 14 June 1967.
65 UNSC Resolution 242, 22 November 1967.
66 See Dumper, Mick, “The return of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons: the evolution of a European policy on the Mid-