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special bulletin may 2001 introduction historical background the palestinian refugee problem was created as a result of two wars the war of 1948 and the june 1967 war the war of 1948 an-naqba was triggered by the un general assembly unga res 181 of 29 nov 1947 partition plan that allocated 56.47 of palestine to the jewish state at a time when jews were less than one-third of the population and owned no more than 7 of the land the war resulted in the creation of the state of israel in 78 of palestine and the uprooting of the indigenous palestinian population from their homeland by military force expulsion or fear of massacres and other attacks perpetrated by jewish underground and militant groups such as haganah irgun and stern gang after the war the newly established un conciliation commission for palestine unccp estimated that 726,000 palestinians had fled to neighboring arab countries and elsewhere while some 32,000 had become refugees within the armistice lines the internally displaced when their lands homes and villages were seized and often destroyed by the israeli forces of the 800,000 arabs originally living in the area that became israel only some 100,000 remained becoming an arab minority in the jewish state some 531 arab villages and towns were destroyed or resettled by jews today only a tiny number of palestinian refugees have been allowed to come back under family reunification arrangements and the vast majority is still awaiting justice until this day and despite the fact that much of the material israeli revisionist or new historians have presented on the 1948 war and the origins of the palestinian refugee problem has revealed that the expulsion of the palestinians was a clear goal pursued by the founders of the jewish state israel s official position remains one of rejecting any responsibility in dec 1949 the un recognized the plight of the refugees and established with res 302-iv the un relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east unrwa to provide humanitarian aid by 1950 914,221 refugees were registered with unrwa in the course of the june war of 1967 an-naqsa the remaining parts of arab palestine along with the syrian golan heights and egypt s sinai peninsula came under israeli occupation and some 300,000 palestinians were displaced from the west bank and gaza strip including around 175,000 unrwa-registered refugees who were to flee for a second time to accommodate the new wave of displaced persons ten extra refugee camps were established throughout the occupation israeli policies have followed a systematic pattern of land confiscation and other discriminatory measures aimed at forcing even more palestinians to leave their homeland the seizure of land and property and their transferal to new jewish immigrants and israeli settlers is backed by a series of laws enacted to prevent the return and resettlement of the rightful owners e.g absentee property law more recently israel has even taken advantage of the interim character of the oslo process and made every possible attempt to create more facts on the ground to further preclude a return of refugees the overall fate of the refugees remains one of the most complex issues still awaiting a solution this special bulletin aims to present the basic facts and figures relating to the palestinian refugee question passia palestinian academic society for the study of international affairs jerusalem

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the refugee question and international law the refugee question specifically the right of return is one of the most controversial issues in the ongoing arab-israeli conflict international law and resolutions however leave no doubt that israel is legally required to permit the repatriation of the palestinians displaced in 1948 and that palestinian refugees are entitled to full restitution including the right of return the right of return of properties and the right to compensation for material and moral losses the most famous source of reference in this regard is un general assembly resolution 194 of 1948 see box which has been affirmed by the unga over 110 times so far however israel continues to dispute the legality of the palestinian claim based on res 194 and refuses to repatriate refugees no settlement can be just and complete if recognition is not accorded to the right of the arab refugee to return to the home from which he has been dislodged it would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes while jewish immigrants flow into palestine and indeed at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the arab refugees who have been rooted in the land for centuries un mediator count folke bernadotte report un doc al 648 1948 refugees in international and un resolutions refugees in international law law and un resolutions the universal declaration of human rights art 13 2 1948 everyone has the right to leave any country including his own the universal declaration of human rights art 13 2 1948 everyone has the right to leave any country including his own and to return to his country and art 17 2 n]o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property and to return to his country and art 17 2 n]o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property un general assembly resolution 194 para 11 11 dec 1948 resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes un general assembly resolution 194 para 11 11 dec 1948 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 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 the loss of or damage to property which under principles should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for the 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 of international law or in equity should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible fourth geneva convention art 49 12 aug 1949 individual or mass forcible transfers as well as deportations of protected fourth geneva convention art 49 12 aug 1949 individual or mass forcible transfers as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power or to that of any other country occupied or not are persons from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power or to that of any other country occupied or not are prohibited regardless of their motive and art 53 any destruction by the occupying power of real or personal property prohibited regardless of their motive and art 53 any destruction by the occupying power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons or to the state or to other public authorities or to social or cooperative belonging individually or collectively to private persons or to the state or to other public authorities or to social or cooperative organizations is prohibited except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations organizations is prohibited except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations the international covenant on civil and political rights art 12 1966 no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter the international covenant on civil and political rights art 12 1966 no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country his own country refugees today the palestinian refugee problem is the oldest refugee problem in the world today there are over 5 million palestinian refugees constituting two-thirds of the total palestinian population and making palestinians the largest single group of refugees in the world with a 3 increase annually three different groups of refugees are differentiated refugees of the 1947-1949 period displaced persons as a result of the 1967 war and expired permit-holders or latecomers i.e residents of the west bank and gaza who overstayed their permits while abroad and were denied re-entry some 3.7 million of the total 5 million refugees are registered with unrwa and about a third of these live inside one of the 59 unrwa camps see map p 6 most of which were established between 1948-1953 for over 50 years now unrwa has been responsible for providing health rehabilitation schooling training and other services to the camp population in 2000 its budget amounted to us$300.9 million 2

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unrwa registered refugees and non-refugees population june 2000 unrwa registered refugees june 2000 west bank registered refugees rr increase over 1999 of total population of total rrs no of refugee camps rr living in camps as of rr rr outside camps 583,009 2.3 29.7 16 19 157,676 27 425,333 gaza strip 824,622 3.3 78 22 8 451,186 54.7 373,436 jordan 1,570,192 3.8 32.2 42 10 280,191 17.8 1,290,001 syria 383,199 2.3 2.5 10 10 111,712 29.2 271,487 lebanon 376,472 1.7 11.1 10 12 210,715 56 165,757 total 3,737,494 3.1 30.7 100 59 1,211,480 32.4 2,526,014 three additional neighborhoods in amman zarqa and madaba are considered unofficial camps by unrwa source unrwa in figures unrwa headquarters june 2000 for annual updates see www.un.org/unrwa because of unrwa s narrow refugee definition only persons and their descendants whose normal place of residence was palestine between 1 june 1946 and 15 may 1948 who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the war of 1948 and who took refuge in jordan lebanon syria the jordanian-ruled west bank or the egyptian-administered gaza strip some 48 of palestinian refugees in the diaspora are not registered the definition does not cover refugees who fled elsewhere those displaced in 1967 at least 325,000 unless they were already registered with unrwa or those who were outside the west bank or gaza in 1967 also not included are the latecomers numbering at least 50,000 cases 3

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distribution of unrwa registered refugees west bank and gaza west bank district nablus camp year of est askar 1950 balata 1950 camp no 1 1950 far a 1949 jenin 1953 nur shams 1952 tulkarm 1950 ama ri 1949 deir ammar 1949 jalazon 1949 qalandia 1949 shu fat 1965/66 aqabat jaber 1948 ein sultan 1948 dheisheh 1949 aida 1950 beit jibrin 1950 fawwar 1949 arroub 1950 gaza strip population 12,712 19,196 5,847 6,312 13,361 7,577 14,862 7,396 2,043 8,372 8,189 8,955 4,775 2,178 9,812 3,895 1,727 6,419 8,470 district gaza north gaza city gaza south camp year of est jabalia 1948/49 shati beach 1949 khan younis 1949 rafah 1949 deir balah 1949 nuseirat 1948/49 bureij 1949 al-maghazi 1949 population 99,039 74,464 58,891 86,934 19,903 59,969 28,946 21,559 jenin tulkarm ramallah gaza central jerusalem jericho bethlehem the de facto numbers of the camp population are much higher as an estimated 4,000 refugees have moved into the camp in the past years to avoid losing their residency rights in jerusalem source unrwa fact sheet 2000 hebron living conditions common characteristics of camp life include overcrowded housing conditions poor infrastructure unpaved streets and open sewers poverty and unemployment schools often run on double shifts with an average of 50 pupils per classroom some 5.5 of all registered refugees are considered special hardship cases with the largest shares in lebanon 10.8 and gaza 8.6 one of the main problems palestinian refugees face is that most of their arab host states do not grant them full residency status and civil rights and their attitude towards the refugee population is mainly characterized by considerations of state security it must be said in this regard that arab governments have often been utilizing the palestinian plight for their own political aims and alliances in the region because of their problematic citizenship status palestinian refugees are particularly vulnerable to expulsion two recent examples are the over 300,000 palestinians who were forced to leave kuwait and other gulf states during the 1990-1991 gulf crisis and the 30,000 palestinians in libya who were expelled in 1995 in response to the plo-israeli accords west bank gaza strip bank gaza strip although all camps in the west bank and gaza except shu fat camp in jerusalem are today under the control of the palestinian authority pa daily life has always been and still is deeply affected by the israeli occupation most of the refugees in the west bank stem from areas of jerusalem ramallah hebron and the northern west bank nablus jenin and tulkarem lesser numbers are from the lydda-ramle-jaffa triangle or the tiberias region in gaza the majority of the population are refugees and the density in the camps is among the highest in the world expansion is difficult as the areas designated for refugee camps are limited and usually surrounded by urban areas most of gaza s refugees fled in 1948 from the areas of jaffa al-majdal and beersheva 4

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lebanon the second largest palestinian diaspora community lives in lebanon mostly originating in the galilee and coastal towns the refugees in lebanon face the harshest conditions a hostile attitude towards them prevails since the 1975 civil war and although they have been allowed to stay on a non-permanent basis they are denied any social rights their lebanese travel documents are not recognized by most countries in the world they must obtain work permits issued by the lebanese authorities and are not allowed to work in the public sector at all nor in over 70 other professions unemployment is consequently very high and aggravated by the fact that job-seekers have to compete with syrian guest workers who do not need to apply for residence or work permits refugees cannot own property without special permission nor open any business so far the lebanese government which has declined to participate in the multilateral talks on refugees has refused to even consider permanent settlement and/or naturalization of palestinians on its territory mainly because of the fragile balance of the muslim and christian populations jordan after the 1948 war when an estimated 100,000 refugees crossed the jordan river four refugee camps were set up in jordan followed by another six after the 1967 war to accommodate additional refugees most of the refugees came originally from the lydda-ramle-jaffa triangle and/or the palestinian west bank in jordan palestinians are granted citizenship since the 1954 nationalities act and carry regular jordanian passports they are entitled to vote and to hold office enjoy full rights to public services and can work in the government sector an exception are the ca 100,000 stateless 1967 refugees from gaza and the latecomers whose entry permits have expired both groups are only eligible for temporary jordanian passports however it should also be noted that especially since the armed clashes between hashemite troops and palestinian fighters in 1970 black september palestinian refugees are perceived as a potentially destabilizing factor in national politics and thus kept under the special scrutiny of state intelligence syria most of the palestine refugees who fled to syria in 1948 were from the northern cities of palestine such as safad and haifa while most 1967 refugees fled from the golan heights the refugees enjoy the same rights as syrian citizens with the exception of the right to vote hold office or possess syrian passports instead they hold travel documents which are not recognized by many governments and thus limit their freedom of movement but otherwise palestinians are integrated allowed to own certain kinds of property and have access to educational facilities as well as the labor market their political rights are restricted however and there is a separate body the office for palestinian refugees to supervise them syria like lebanon has refused to participate in the multilateral talks 5

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other countries there are almost a million palestinians in israel including the internal refugees who remained in the country after fleeing their homes in 1948 and the tiny number of refugees who have been allowed to return to places in israel other than their original homes on condition that it is made clear that the decision to grant these permits does not constitute a recognition of a right of return palestinians in israel are treated as second-class citizens in egypt palestinians enjoyed socioeconomic and civil rights until the mid-1970s but since then have been treated just like other foreigners they have had difficulties obtaining travel documents and consequently work permits as well those several thousand palestinians who live again in kuwait are under strict surveillance and enjoy only very limited rights the same goes in general for the palestinians in saudi arabia in iraq palestinians have social but no political rights and naturalization is provided over the past decades almost half a million palestinian refugees have individually been granted asylum in the us canada and europe where they are generally treated in the same way as any other refugees 6

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distribution of the palestinian people worldwide end of 1999 inside outside jordan lebanon syria egypt saudi arabia kuwait other gulf libya and iraq other arab countries the americas other countries i1 2,434,130 449,735 486,826 51,001 287,250 149,786 77,660 5,796 209,705 267,077 4,418,966 ii2 2,472,501 456,824 494,501 51,805 291,778 149,786 78,884 5,887 216,196 275,303 4,495,826 west bank gaza strip1 3,084,880 areas occupied in 19482 1,094,350 total inside 1 2 4,179,230 total outside pcbs projected population march 2000 salman abu sitta palestine 1948 commemoration of al-naqba london palestinian return center may 2000 the peace process and the final status negotiations the question of palestinian refugees has been a core issue in the arab-israeli conflict since 1948 and yet a solution remains nowhere near since the madrid middle east peace conference in 1991 the approach was to tackle the issue of the 1967 displaced people first while deferring that of the 1948 refugees until the permanent status talks as it was considered easier to resolve the question of people displaced from occupied territory than from what became israel in 1948 in 1992 the refugee working group rwg was formally initiated in moscow as part of the multilateral track to look into ways of improving the living conditions of the refugees chaired by canada it was to focus on themes such as human resources development health welfare and infrastructure to date eight plenary sessions have been held the last in geneva in dec 1995 in 1993 the declaration of principles on interim self-government arrangements dop stated as its intention the reaching of a permanent settlement based on un res 242 and 338 while res 194 was not mentioned finding a solution for persons displaced from the west bank and gaza strip in 1967 was to be addressed in quadripartite talks israel palestinians egypt and jordan while the issue of 1948 refugees was postponed to the permanent status talks likewise the gaza-jericho autonomy agreement of 4 may 1994 only referred to the 1967 displaced persons art xvi to discuss the issue a continuing quadripartite committee was established which failed to achieve much due to major differences over definitions and numbers and ceased to meet in 1997 when the peace process as a whole deteriorated the jordanian-israeli peace treaty of 26 oct 1994 art 8 recognized the massive human problems the refugee question poses and reiterated that finding a solution lies with a quadripartite committee in the case of displaced persons and with the rwg and the permanent status negotiations in the case of refugees again the oslo ii accord of 25 sept 1995 failed to explicitly mention the right of return while art vii of the abu mazen-beilin agreement of 31 oct 1995 the existence of which had been denied and was only exposed in sept 2000 acknowledged the right of return as just and lawful but stated that in light of the realities that have been created on the ground since 1948 its execution is not viable it also called for the creation of an international commission for palestinian refugees to define criteria and develop programs for compensation for moral and material losses resettlement and rehabilitation of refugees in may 1996 the final status negotiations were formally opened but substantial negotiations never took place and the parties have as yet come no closer to an agreement the exclusion of un res 194 from the oslo framework along with the fact that the palestinian side agreed to defer the difficult issues refugees borders jerusalem settlements and water to a later stage led to a deep sense of marginalization among palestinian refugees the three key concepts that have shaped discussion so far are as follows 7

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repatriation implementation of un res 194 i.e the right of return compensation various scenarios for financial reparation resettlement either in the palestinian state as naturalization in host countries with improved living conditions or in third countries positions before looking at the various official positions it should be noted that the palestinian refugees themselves believe that their inalienable rights per se cannot be negotiated between israel and the pa with reference to international law they stress that agreements which deprive civilians of recognized human rights including the right to repatriation and restitution are null and void the concept and vision of returning home is still at the very core of the palestinian national identity and is one of the reasons why criticism of the oslo accords is very much related to the abandonment of the refugee question to date no serious progress has been made in the negotiations on the rights and the future of the refugees following the camp david talks in july 2000 it has been confirmed there can be no stable peace in the region without an accepted solution to the refugee question with regard to the 1948 refugees israel rejects un res 194 as a basis for talks on the grounds that the responsibility for the refugee tragedy lies with the arab governments who started the war and who asked the palestinians to leave to make way for the liberation of palestine from the zionists and that the right of return would be a direct demographic and security threat to israel s statehood the palestinians conversely insist on the implementation of un res 194 and demand the absolute and unconditional right of return to the area of mandatory palestine for all palestinian refugees of 1948 saying the refugee tragedy was a direct result of expulsion and fear based on military attacks and massacres of jewish forces upon palestinians while israel only counts those refugees who fled during the war of 1967 numbering them between 200,000 and 300,000 palestinians and arab countries include those who became refugees in 1947-49 and 1967 and put their original number at around one million however the numbers are estimated and disputed especially by the israelis and the matter is further complicated by the question of who is a refugee in lebanon for example unrwa counts over 370,000 registered refugees while the plo cites figures as low as around 150,000 mainly in an effort not to interfere with the country s religious and ethnic divisions while other observers average them around 200,000 on the issue of repatriation israel rejects the notion of refugees returning to their original homes and is only willing to admit a small number of refugees camp david 2000 5-10,000 over a 5-10-year period under family reunification schemes contrarily palestinians demand the unconditional return of all persons regardless of what caused their displacement it must be said however that there are palestinian voices suggesting that one must distinguish between the essential principle and the problematic practicality of exercising that right as a mass return to homes and lands in pre-1948 palestine is idealistic and the ability of the pa to absorb huge numbers of people limited israel further argues that besides everything else there is no space for refugee repatriation due to overcrowded conditions palestinians counter that this argument has no basis since israel has had no problems absorbing about a million new immigrants over the past decade one of the injustices perceived is that russian immigrants can claim to be jewish and live on palestinian land while its rightful owners palestinian refugees are denied their return israel further insists that the issue of compensation will only be dealt with in reciprocity i.e including consideration of the cases of jews who were expelled from arab countries after the creation of the state of israel palestinians hold against this that jews left those countries not as the result of expulsion or war but strongly persuaded if not coerced to do so by israel and that jewish property in the arab world is not their responsibility but would require negotiations with arab states israel is also only willing to contribute an unspecified lump sum into a yet to be established international 8

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fund to compensate refugees and oversee compensation and resettlement issues palestinians in turn insist on direct reparation or compensation to individual refugees based on refugee s rights to restitution and compensation the total losses in destroyed or confiscated palestinian property is estimated at us$250 billion at today s value and double this sum if non-material losses are included badil center bethlehem such calculation still does not include the billions to be claimed by host countries like jordan what israel advocates instead is resettlement in host countries improving the quality of camp life and restricted readmissions based on humanitarian considerations palestinians reject all attempts leading to re-settlement unless based on the refugees choice at the beginning of jan 2001 the palestinian negotiating team rejected the so-called us bridging proposal which was a last attempt by the outgoing clinton administration to secure a peace deal on the refugee issue the us proposed recognizing the right of return while stressing that there is no such specific right with regard to today s israel but rather to the palestinian state including areas proposed for a land swap or rehabilitation in arab states or resettlement in third countries the palestinians refused saying the proposal fails to provide any assurance that refugee s rights to restitution and compensation will be fulfilled and neither secures the establishment of a viable palestinian state nor the right of palestinian refugees to return to their homes the feasibility of return recent research by salman abu sitta palestinian right of return sacred legal and possible london palestinian return center 1999 divided israel into three demographic areas a b and c and demonstrated that the majority of israeli jews 68 is concentrated in area a 8 of israel which is largely the same area in size and location as the land which the jews had purchased or acquired in 1948 area a is mainly urban centers many of which have grown out of originally palestinian towns in area b 6 of israel with a largely mixed population another 10 of israeli jews live in other words 78 of israeli jews live in 14 of israel while area c 86 of israel is home to the remaining 22 of israeli jews and comprises by and large the area by size and location of palestinian refugee homelands abu sitta s study shows then that the argument that israel is already too populated and has no spare space is but a myth stating for example that of the jews living in area c less than 200,000 reside in rural areas while some 5 million refugees are crammed into hopelessly overcrowded refugee camps often only a few kilometers away beyond the green line area c is thus the perfect area for any future absorption of returning palestinian refugees the scenarios abu sitta is drawing on include the following if all registered refugees in lebanon were allowed to return to their homes in galilee which is still largely arab it would only be felt in area b while there would be almost no impact on area a jewish concentration and area c least populated the same is true for the refugees in gaza if they were allowed to return to their homes mostly in the rather empty south the jewish majority in area a would drop by only 6 according to abu sitta the number of rural jews in the south who may be affected by the return of gaza refugees does not exceed 78,000 or the size of a single refugee camp dutch geographer jan de jong made a study on practical and realistic steps that could be taken to solve the refugee question according to the principle of equitably respecting the rights of both peoples and upholding the palestinian right of return in acknowledgement of two separate nationalities de jong has formulated a palestinian-israeli adapted partition plan guided by the 1947 un partition plan and based on a division of the land into areas where both populations including up to two million returning refugees could enjoy their national rights to the maximal extent in what was and is or has become their home 9

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estimates of the number of palestinian refugees wishing to return differ but the main question is what would be needed to reconcile israel s established national rights with a restoration of the palestinian rights that were alienated after 1947 there is little dispute amongst geographers that the west bank and the gaza strip even when constituted as an independent palestinian state are in no condition to accommodate an additional two million refugees not least because of high current and projected population growth rates accordingly the feasibility of refugeereturn is intimately linked to the equally urgent issue of the palestinian state s overall viability quite substantial areas in israel are scarcely inhabited by jewish citizens due to their remoteness and a shortage of jobs and services these include areas that israel conquered in the final stages of the 1948-49 war where most indigenous palestinians managed to stay put and where today they still make up the overwhelming majority of the local population while marginal on these accounts for israel de jong argues that such areas are crucial to make the return of palestinian refugees feasible while at the same time decisively improving the prospects for palestine s development at little to no cost for israel which would even benefit from a greatly expanded consumer market the map shows two areas light orange with a negligible jewish population that if opened up to a palestinian state in the west bank and gaza would improve economic viability while creating an area capable of accommodating up to two million returning refugees the area in the north comprises the core of the galilee and the wadi ara region that in the south links the west bank with gaza in each area one large and several smaller cities could be constructed de jong argues that spreading the demographic burden of such refugeeabsorbing cities over areas which on account of their land and market bridging functionality are economically focal would create vital space and jobs for the incoming population and benefit the entire area by increasing the demand for goods and services the new configuration only affecting 8 of today s israel proper could turn the currently fragmented palestinian territories into one cohesive contiguous space along a major trunk road providing fast and unhindered passage to all districts neighboring countries and seaports in both gaza and akka such a configuration would not need to prejudice the established sovereign rights of israeli citizens arabs or jews as all existing communities would remain with their current municipal arrangements while only the unused open land in the re-absorption areas light orange would need to be brought under a regional palestinian developmental authority de jong suggests that this leaves under 2 of either population residing in non-contiguous sovereign areas in what is today israel proper and demands a minimum of controlled road crossings the map indicates sovereign roadpassages for guaranteeing unlimited israeli territorial contiguity while ensuring the same for the palestinian territory and its thoroughfare again drawing his guidance from the 1947 partition plan de jong s map further division of the entire land area along similarly equitable lines seeing a resulting a potentially comprehensive territorial settlement when incorporating the western negev as shown on the map with the contiguous block outlined above outlines an eventual 50-50 partition as section of the 10

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special bulletin passia palestinian academic society for the study of international affairs palestine 02-2964970 copyright c passia may 2001 tel 972-2-626 4426 fax 972-2-628 2819 e-mail passia@palnet.com website http www.passia.org po box 19545 jerusalem photos unrwa except p.5 middle bottom pictures recommended research sources kindly supported by friedrich ebert foundation fes jerusalem http www.shaml.org palestinian diaspora refugee center http www.un.org/depts/dpa/qpal/refug_f.htm un reports and resolutions http www.un.org/depts/dpa/ngo/refugees conference proceedings http www.un.org/unrwa/index.html official unrwa page http www.unhcr.ch/world/mide/palestin.htm official unhcr page http www.badil.org badil center for refugee residency rights http al-awda.org website of the palestine right to return coalition http www.acrossborders.org refugee internet project http www.arts.mcgill.ca/mepp/prrn/prfront.html palestinian refugee research net http www.prc.org.uk palestinian return center london http www.savethechildren.org.uk/eyetoeye stories about life as a refugee http www.nad-plo.org/permanent/refugees.html plo negotiation department http rightofreturn.org/frames.html council for palestinian restitution and repatriation daneels isabel palestinian refugees and the peace process jerusalem jmcc oxfam gb 2001 morris benny the birth of the palestinian refugee problem 1947-1949 new york cambridge university press 1987 palestinian refugee compensation washington dc center for policy analysis on palestine 1995 peretz don palestinian refugees and the middle east peace process washington d.c us institute of peace 1993 plo department of refugee affairs the final status negotiations on the refugee issue positions strategies ramallah 2000 pulfer g a al-mashni west bank and gaza strip palestinian refugees five years after oslo bethlehem badil 1999 shiblak a u.davis civil and citizenship rights of palestinian refugees monograph series no.1 ramallah shaml 1996 shikaki khalil joseph alpher the palestinian refugee problem and the right of return harvard university 1998 takkenberg lex the status of palestinian refugees in international law oxford clarendon press 1998 tamari s palestinian refugee negotiations from madrid to oslo ii washington dc institute for palestine studies 1996 yahya adel the palestinian refugees 1949-1998 an oral history ramallah pace 1999 zureik elia palestinian refugees and the peace process washington dc institute for palestine studies 1996.

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