BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

2.1 Background
Population Numbers, Distribution and Characteristics
By mid-2007, 1 there were approximately 7 million Palestinian refugees and about 450,000 internally displaced
Palestinians, representing more than 70% of the entire Palestinian population worldwide (10.1 million as at the
end of 2006). 2 This figure includes Palestinians and their descendants whose “country of origin” 3 is the former
Palestine (now divided into Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory), who have been displaced within or
outside the borders of this area, and who do not have access to voluntary durable solutions, including the right to
return to their homes of origin or to repossess their properties.
In other words, more than 7.4 million of all Palestinians are refugees or internally displaced persons, while the legal
status of 400,000 additional Palestinians is unclear. The majority of the latter have likely been forcibly displaced
from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967, and are now residing outside the occupied Palestinian
territory (OPT) as a result of measures taken by the occupying power, mainly revocation of residency, denial of
family reunification and deportation; or they are unwilling to return to the occupied territory owing to a wellfounded
fear of persecution. 4 Hence, most of the 400,000 displaced Palestinians whose legal status is unclear are
likely to qualify as refugees.
Available data on the Palestinian refugee and IDP population is uneven and shifting, primarily due to the absence
of a comprehensive registration system, frequent forced displacement, and the lack of any uniform definition of
a Palestine refugee. 5
The Palestinian refugee and IDP population described here comprises the total estimated number of Palestinians
who have been displaced and denied the right to return to their homes of origin and the right to repossess their
properties. Unlike most refugees and displaced persons elsewhere in the world, who usually seek protection against
refoulement, the primary problem facing Palestinian refugees is Israel’s denial of their right to return to their homes
of origin.
The largest group of Palestinian refugees is made up of those who were displaced or expelled from their places of
origin as a result of the 1948 war (the Nakba) in 1948. These number 6 million, a figure that includes 4.5 million
Palestinian refugees who are eligible for assistance from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
(UNRWA) (often referred to as “registered refugees” or “Palestine refugees”), and a further 1.5 million refugees
who were also displaced in 1948, but are not eligible or did not register for assistance with UNRWA.
The second major group of Palestinian refugees (950,000) is comprised of those displaced for the first time from
their places of origin as a result of the 1967 war.
Not included in these statistics is a third category of Palestinians whose legal status is unclear, but who are likely to
be refugees. Neither 1948 nor 1967 refugees, they are outside former Palestine and unable (due to revocation of
residency, denial of family reunification, deportation, etc.) or unwilling to return to their places of origin (owing
to a well-founded fear of persecution). Most of those in this group (which numbers about 400,000) originate from
the 1967-occupied Palestinian territory.
Internally displaced Palestinians fall into two groups. The first is made up of IDPs who remained in the area that
became the state of Israel in 1948 (338,000). This number includes those who were displaced by the 1948 war, as
well as those displaced as a result of population transfer, land expropriation and house demolition after 1948. The
second group includes Palestinians internally displaced in the 1967-occupied Palestinian territory during and after
the 1967 war (115,000). Internal displacement is difficult to track in the context of the Palestinian/Arab-Israeli
conflict, as ceasefire lines have changed frequently and there is no internationally recognized border between Israel
and the 1967-occupied Palestinian territory.
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