This website is licensed under a Creative Commons License except where noted. The second largest group of refugees is made up of those Palestinians who were displaced for the first time from their homes and communities in 1967 as well as their descendants. Claiming that UNRWA or UNHCR perpetuate the refugee status of Palestinian refugees is like claiming the Department of Labor perpetuates unemployment because they provide unemployment benefits and other services to millions of Americans. If Palestinian refugees are exceptional, it is mainly in the lengths that others are prepared to go to deny their rights under international law, since UNRWA registration of descendants follows established norms and international refugee practice in other similar refugee crises. AFSC assistance included the setting up of camp structures, the establishment of health clinics, feeding operations, running schools, setting up other service structures, and the registration of refugees. American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization devoted to service, development, and peace programs throughout the world. There were 61 bodies. A significant portion of Arab refugees fled from their homes owing to Jewish occupation of Haifa on April 21-22 and to Jewish armed attack against Jaffa April 25., Israeli historian Ilan Papp conducted extensive research in Israeli Defense Force archives and revealed how Zionist paramilitary organizations, such as the Haganah, Irgun Zvai Leumi, and Lehi (Stern Gang), received orders to systemically attack and depopulate Palestinian villages. 1, Special Issue: Palestine 1948, (Autumn, 1988), pp. The historical record is so compelling in fact that the Israeli Defense Ministry has made a concerted effort to search through various archives and remove historic documents and other evidence of atrocities by Zionist forces, including mass killings and large-scale expulsions of Palestinians, all of which point to Israels complicity in the creation of the refugee problem.

Moreover, even if it were true that Palestinians had left their homeland voluntarily, this would still not negate their status as refugees or their right to return to their homes as prescribed by international law. The interpretation counters the arguments that Palestinians who descend from the original 1948 displaced should not be allowed to return because they have never been Israeli nationals, never set foot in Israel, or even that theyleft on their own accord and not out of coercion. Additionally, if the new state of Israel had attempted to keep the land that it seized during the1948 War while also allowing people displaced from these areas during the 1948 war to return to their homes the Jewish population of the new state would have been the minority population. In 1937, David Ben-Gurion, who would later become Israels first prime minister, stated at the Twentieth Zionist Congress in Zurich, Now a transfer of a completely different scope will have to be carried out. AFSC also holds that Palestinian refugees right of return must be recognized and justly addressed if the conflict is to be resolved. Reality: Proponents of this myth argue that the right of return for Palestinian refugees is not binding due to the fact that a binding provision called right of return did not exist in 1948. Found bodies of 6 elderly men. Finally, there are an unknown number of Palestinians who have been expelled from or refused return to the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967. UNRWA remains unwavering in our commitment to serving Palestine refugees in this time of crisis. The Jewish population was only a majority in the middle (coastal) section of the proposed state, but even here 65 percent of the Jewish population lived in the two cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa meaning that Palestinians were the majority population in nearly all of the area set aside for the new Jewish State.[x]. Middle East Institute In June 2002, RepresentativeJanice Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced into the record an article alleging that UNRWA, which has existed for more than 50 years, was never meant to actually solve the problem of Palestinian refugees but to perpetuate it. Of course, it is true that UNRWA was never meant to resolve the refugee problem, which is well beyond its mandate, but rather to provide basic services such as education, healthcare, and other social services until such time as a political resolution to the refugee problem could be achieved by the parties themselves. They were not granted citizenship however and their rights to own property were limited. Myth: Palestinian refugees left their homeland voluntarily during the war of 1948; therefore, Israel is not responsible for the creation of the refugee problem. And only after this transfer will the country be able to absorb millions of our brothers and the Jewish problem will cease to exist. 10 were still twitching. This work continued until May 1, 1950 when the United Nations Relief and Works Agency began its operations. The systematic displacement of Palestinians also began well before the UN Partition Plan formally went into effect on May 15th 1948, which is the date that marks the beginning of formal hostilities between the Israeli military and forces from surrounding Arab countries. [i] The Palestinian refugee population now includes over seven million people. It does not engage in advocacy and its scholars opinions are their own. In Jordan nearly 95% of all Palestinian refugees have been given citizenship and are able to participate in Jordanian political and economic life. AFSC subsequently developed new programs in both Gaza and the West Bank and our work continues today in both areas through our offices and staff in Jerusalem and Gaza. 3 cases of rape, one east of Safed, girl of 14, 4 men shot and killed. The rights outlined in this resolution are firmly grounded in international humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law. (Autumn 1997) pp. Under international law, all refugee populations, including Palestinian refugees, have a fundamental right to voluntarily return to their homeland, regardless of the conditions under which they left. The amendment called for a report to be produced within a year that included the approximate number of people in the last year who had received services from UNRWA: who had resided in Palestine from June 1946-May 1948 and were personally displaced, the children of those displaced people, the grandchildren of those displaced people, those who are residents of the West Bank and Gaza, those who are not residents of the West Bank and Gaza and are citizens elsewhere, and specifically those who were personally displaced between June 1946-May 1948 from Palestine who dont reside in the West Bank or Gaza and are not currently citizens of any other state. From IDF archives utilized by Ilan Papp these operations can be carried out in the following manner: either by destroying villages (by setting fire to them, by blowing them up, and by planting mines in their rubble), and especially those population centers that are difficult to control permanently; or by mounting combing and control operations according to the following guidelines: encirclement of the villages, conducting a search inside them. Meanwhile, UNHCR was established to deal with the millions of European refugees displaced by World War II; it was only after displacement continued to occur in other parts of the world that UNHCR expanded its role to tackle refugee emergencies outside of Europe as well. Violent conflict between Palestinians and Jewish forces began as early as November 1947 and continued unabated until May 1948. The intent behind the request is made evident by the letter, which states, The issue of the so-called Palestinian right of return of 5.3 million refugees to Israel as part of any peace deal is an unrealistic demand, and we do not believe it accurately reflects the number of actual Palestinian refugees. Indeed, in practice passing down refugee status to descendants has been the norm for Afghan refugees, Burundian refugees, Sudanese refugees, Somali refugees, Eritrean refugees, Angolan refugees, and Syrian refugees, all of whom pass down their refugee status to their descendants. The status of UNRWA refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria is more complicated. According to the law of state responsibility in international law, Israel is responsible for Palestinian refugees and their right to obtain restitution and compensation for their lost properties, regardless of the reasons that Palestinians were not on their properties at the time of their seizure by the state of Israel. Nooran is currently a graduate research fellow for the Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute. We all have a role to play in caring for each other. Furthermore, the 1951 Refugee Convention utilized by UNHCR includes an article specific to Palestinian refugees and affords Palestinian refugees who are outside of UNRWAs area of operations the same protections afforded to all refugees. In 2012, Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced an amendment to the Senates FY13 Foreign Operations bill compelling the State Department to provide information on Palestinian refugees in a way that would allow Congress to redefine the term Palestinian refugee more narrowly. The UNCCPwas tasked with resolving the refugee question in Palestine and UNRWA came into existence to serve that mandate. All Palestinian refugees, whether served by UNRWA or UNHCR are beneficiaries of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Physical infrastructure, including power plants and hospitals, have either been destroyed or disabled by past bombing campaigns, leaving the trapped population virtually resourceless in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. After May 15th 1948 the War expanded and Israeli forces took over portions of the territory that was set aside for the establishment of a Palestinian state through the Partition Plan and expelled much of the population that lived in these areas. [Yigal] Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population? Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said, Drive them out! Rabin added, I agreed that it was essential to drive the inhabitants out., The evidence regarding the intentions of Zionist paramilitary organizations and their implementation of Plan Dalet is well supported by the historical record and has been documented by Israeli and Palestinian historians alike, such as Benny Morris, Avi Shlaim, Ilan Papp, Ahron Bregman, Simha Flapan, Martin Gilbert, Walid Khalidi, Nur Masalha, Rosemarie Esber, and others. From one they cut off his fingers with a knife to take the ring.. UNRWA was explicitly created to provide relief to the wave of new refugees in the Near East, and it was a UN mission led by Gordan Clapp, peace envoy to the United States under President Harry Truman, that was the impetus for the creation of UNRWA. The Middle East Institute (MEI) is an independent, non-partisan, non-for-profit, educational organization. The Israeli government does not recognize Palestinian refugees right to return and continues to say that Palestinian refugees and their descendants cannot be allowed to return to the homes and communities from which they were displaced because their return would be a threat to the maintenance of a continued Jewish demographic majority in Israel. As the number of casualties and internally displaced people climbs, they are left to shelter in UNRWA schools, in mosques and other places during a global COVID-19 pandemic with limited access to water, food, hygiene, and health services (UN OCHA oPt). The fixation with redefining the status of Palestinian refugees is driven primarily by political and ideological concerns, most notably the desire by Israel and its supporters to eliminate their right of return, as defined by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, which states refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible. Israel denies any responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem and insists that the Palestinian right of return is a threat to its existence as a Jewish-majority state. Reality: Claims that Palestinian refugee figures are inflated or somehow exceptional are demonstrably false.

[iv]This is a process that is ongoing in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel through the processes of land confiscation, forced displacement, home demolition, and the revocation of residency rights. [vii] The practice of depopulating and destroying Palestinian communities was turned into official government policy by Plan Dalet which was finalized by the pre-state Jewish leadership in March 1948. I dont see anything immoral in it., In 1940, the director of the Jewish National Fund Lands Department, which was tasked with purchasing lands for the Zionist enterprise in Palestine, wrote in his diary; There is no way besides transferring the Arabs from here to the neighboring countries, and to transfer all of them, save perhaps for the Arabs of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Old Jerusalem. 40 (XXXVI), 1985, [xii] Badil, Survey of Palestinian Refugees (2008-2009), [xiv] https://afsc.org/story/boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-explained, [xvii] http://www.endtheoccupation.org/section.php?id=203, American Friends Service Committee1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102215-241-7000. The right to restitution holds regardless of whether or not the refugee returns. MEI welcomes financial donations, but retains sole editorial control over its work and its publications reflect only the authors views. For a listing of MEI donors, please click here. The largest group of Palestinian refugees is made up of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes as a result of the partition of historic Palestine in 1948 as well as their descendants. Palestinian refugees right to return to the homes from which they were displaced is well established in international law. Moreover, even if Palestinian refugees were to fall under UNHCRs umbrella, they would still fall under UNHCRs definition of a protracted refugee situation, which is defined as a refugee population of 25,000 persons or more who have been living in exile for five years or longerrefugees find themselves in a long-lasting and intractable state of limbo. At present there are approximately 350,000 Palestinians who live within the post 1948 borders of Israel and who hold Israeli citizenship who were displaced from their homes in 1948 and who are still not allowed to return to their historic homes, villages, and land - all of which are located within Israels post 1948 borders. To learn more about Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and the Nakba, see the following resources: Nooran Alhamdanis an MA candidate in Arab Studies at the EdmondA. Walsh School of Foriegn Service at Georgetown University. A Palestinian refugee is any Palestinian who fled, was expelled, or was forced into exile from his/her home in the area of historic Palestine or who has been refused reentry to their home in historic Palestine after having traveled abroad during the period between 1948 and today. Up until then, the U.S. had been UNRWAs largest single donor, in large part out of a sense of responsibility for the creation of the refugee problem. Such efforts to delegitimize Palestinian refugees are founded on, and help to perpetuate, an array of misunderstandings, myths, and outright falsehoods regarding Palestinian refugees, the conditions under which they were displaced, and their rights under international law. Oman Library at the Middle East Institute, Turkeys 2023 Elections: The Opposition Blocs Strategy & Prospects, The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and its Implications for Turkey, Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for determining Refugee status, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), UNRWA and Palestine Refugee Rights: New Assaults New Challenges, Palestinian Refugees in International Law, Special briefing: President Bidens trip to the Middle East, Fearing a collapse: Palestinian refugees and UNRWAs worsening financial crisis, Staying the course for now: Germanys MENA policy under the Scholz government. August 12, 1949 AFSC Archives, [x] Khalidi, Walid, Revisiting the UNGA Partition Resolution, The Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol.

Join today! The right of return mirrors voluntary repatriation as referred to by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Statute and is considered the preferable and most durable solution for refugees.

In many parts of the country new settlement will not be possible without transferring the Arab fellahin. The early months of the conflict witnessed limited back and forth violence between irregular Palestinian forces and the much more organize Jewish forces including the Hagganah, Irgun, and Palmach. Because of AFSCs experience helping to resettle hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced persons following World War II, during the fall of 1948 the United Nations asked AFSC to organize relief efforts for refugees displaced by the 1948 War. Palestinian refugees who are not registered with UNRWA generally hold citizenship, immigrant, or temporary resident status in the countries where they are located. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Executive Conclusion No. 40, the basic rights of persons to return voluntarily to their country of origin is reaffirmed and it is urged that international cooperation be aimed at achieving this solution.[xi] UNHCRs support for the right of return is based on the idea that the right of return is a recognized customary norm of international law which is included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Fourth Geneva Convention.[xii]. Attempts to do away with UNRWA and the Palestinian refugee issue as a whole were wholeheartedly embraced by the Trump administration. There is no other solution., In his memoirs, former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin recounts a conversation between Ben-Gurion andhimself from his time as an officer in the Israeli army in July 1948, regarding the fate of Palestinian residents of Lydda and Ramle:We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. [xiii] Refugees not registered with UNRWA live in countries around the world, with some of the largest refugee populations located in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Gulf Countries, Chile, and the United States. Even mainstream organizations like the Anti-Defamation League maintain the Israeli position on the right of return, dedicating an entire webpage to what it describes as the inaccuracy that Palestinian refugees have a right of return under international law.. The views expressed in this piece are herown. In the coming days and weeks, we will work to deliver vital food and health services, including psychosocial support, to those who need it most. Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, especially among children, are astronomical. [vi]Many Palestinians who fled attempted to return to their homes during or after the end of the fighting but were blocked from returning by Israeli forces. Based on records of the British Mandate, the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP), which was created to help mediate peace following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, including a resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem, had assessed that, in 1951, 159,850 refugee families had their lands seized by the Israeli government. Israels position on Palestinian refugees has not changed since 1948. 6-7, [ix] Don Stevenson to Bronson P. Clark, Interview with Ambassador Eliahu Elath of Israel at the Israeli Embassy, Washington on August 9, 1949. Plan Dalet was distributed to all of the major Zionist paramilitary organizations, with explicit instructions regarding Palestinian villages that fell in the territory that Zionist leaders sought for the creation of their state, the majority of which resulted in being 78% of historic Palestine. 11-13, [xi] Conclusion on voluntary Repatriation, UNHCR, Executive Committee, No. Israel could not have been established as a Jewish state without the expulsion of the indigenous Palestinian population. On the other hand, most Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live inside UNRWA run camps and their rights are severely restricted by the Lebanese government. Their legal status is usually consistent with other people holding their same legal status in the country where they reside. Article 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, highlighting the right of everyone to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. Article 12(4) of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) also stipulates no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country, which was further interpreted in 1999 by the Human Rights Committee. The decision to prevent Palestinians from returning to their homes was therefore not motivated by a fear of violence by returning refugees, but rather was a decision made as the result of the Israeli governments recognition that allowing Palestinian refugees to return would have turned Israel into a bi-national state with a Jewish minority. The recent GOP letter to former President Trump was referencing the report in this amendment. Regarding Right of Return, most recently AFSC has organized with Zochrot a conference on the Practicalities of Refugee Return held in Tel Aviv. Palestinians continue to hold that the right of return must be addressed justly if the conflict is to be resolved. Myth: Palestinian refugees are the only refugees to pass on their refugee status to their descendants. In June 2008, Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA) made a statement alleging that Palestinian refugees had no connection to the territory historically known as Palestine and were not in fact refugees, and that a resolution to the Palestinian refugee issue should be resettlement in other countries regardless of whether there is ever a formal resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The proposal, first put forward in 2002 by then Israeli Tourism Minister Benny Elon, also called for Israels annexation of the occupied West Bank. AFSC accepted this request while putting forward a number of conditions including a demand that AFSC be allowed to provide relief wherever it was most needed. OCHA coordinates the global emergency response to save lives and protect people in humanitarian crises. Only by tackling the issue honestly and forthrightly, including by acknowledging the legitimate claims and grievances of Palestinian refugees, can we hope to find a just and durable solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. [i] Abu Shakrah, Jan, Palestinian Refugees: A Discussion Paper, AFSCs Middle East Program, 2000, [ii] Badil, Survey of Palestinian Refugees (2008-2009), [v] Khalidi, Walid, Plan Dalet: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine, The Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible; Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation. This means that even if Palestinian refugees fell under UNHCR, their refugee status would remain unchanged until the implementation of a long-term solution that is acceptable to the UNHCR, and that would most likely require a political solution between Israel and Palestine. Developments in international law have actually strengthened the legal foundation of the right of return. The following organizations in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel address the rights of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons. In 1948, Secretary of State George Marshall, in response to the first U.S representative to Israel James G. McDonalds claims that Palestinian refugees fled because of Arab armies, stated in an official telegram Arab refugee problembegan before the outbreak of Arab-Israeli hostilities. continue to face imminent forced eviction, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Experts of the Committee against Torture Praise the State of Palestine for Supporting Female Victims of Violence, Ask about Conditions in Detention Centres and Torture Legislation, West Bank and Gaza - Complex Emergency - Fact Sheet #3 Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: Initial report submitted by the State of Palestine under article 19 of the Convention, due in 2015 (CAT/C/PSE/1) [EN/AR], Israel/OPT: Immediately halt forced eviction of more than 1,000 West Bank residents and stop demolitions of Bedouin homes in the Negev/Naqab. In cases of resistance, the armed forces must be wiped out and the population expelled outside the borders of the state. Benny Morris corroborates these claims: it is possible that at least 55 percent of the total of the exodus was caused by our (Haganah/IDF) operations and by their influence., Plan Dalet was by no means a secret; in fact, years prior to its creation and implementation, Zionist leaders spoke openly about their plans for the Palestinian population. Ending the occupation is not enough. Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes or villages in 1948 and 1967 and who were not allowed to return to their homes, but who remain present in either Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories. Our work is based on the belief in the worth of every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice. It is often claimed that Palestinians left their homes in 1948 voluntarily or at the behest of Arab leaders. The blockade has devastated lives, infrastructure and the economy through the restriction of movement of people and goods. Jews were only a slim majority of the population (55 percent Jewish vs. 45 percent Palestinian) in the area proposed for the state. Nor would it relieve Israel of its responsibility for the creation of the refugee problem. An additional 130,000 Palestinians are people or the descendants of people who were internally displaced in the occupied Palestinian territory as a result of the 1967 War.[iii]. The third group of Palestinian refugees includes Palestinians who have been internally displaced, i.e. UNRWA began its operations in 1950 and was created in order to continue emergency relief that had, up until December 1949, been provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the League of Red Cross Societies, and the American Friends Service Committee. The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem - http://www.civiccoalition-jerusalem.org/, Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights http://www.badil.org, The Boycott National Committee http://www.bdsmovement.net, The United Nations Relief and Works Agency- http://www.unrwa.org/. Many of these communities were later destroyed. Today there are more than 7 million Palestinian refugees scattered around the world. Prior to the recent Syrian civil war, Palestinian refugees in Syria were integrated into Syrian society and were granted access to government services and employment. Just like your courageous action to bring about unprecedented peace between several Gulf states and Israel, it is time to end the fiction of the right of return and bring the conflict one step closer [to] conclusion. Although Trump did not declassify the report before leaving office on January 20, both the letter and Pompeos tweet highlight ongoing efforts by far-right politicians in the U.S. and Israel to do away with Palestinian refugee rights by essentially defining Palestinian refugees out of existence. As a result, the actual number of Palestinian refugees is inflated. Please support Palestine refugees. This was the first time during the conflict when villages were completely depopulated. 18, No. This is to say that UNRWA already existed by the time UNHCR was created and they both were tasked with serving different mandates. The U.N. as well as the Egyptian and Israeli authorities accepted AFSCs terms. This is also the fourth major escalation in hostilities since 2008 on the Gaza Strip. It is important to note that many of the Palestinian refugees in Syria have been displaced as a result of the Syrian war and Palestinians who remain in Syria have suffered together with other Syrians as a result of the war. As of 2014 this included approximately 5 million refugees who are registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and an additional one million Palestinians who were displaced in 1948 but who could not or did not register with UNRWA for assistance.[ii].