In the 1948 war tht resulted in the creation of the state of Isral in 77% of Palestine, some 750,000 Palestinians were displaced and dispossessed of their homes and land. Approximately 100,000 Palestinians remained in the territory that became the state of Israel and subsequently were nationalized as Israeli citizens. Some 40,000 of these Palestinians were internally displaced from their land and homes and most were prevented from returning even though they became Israeli citizens.
Following the 1948 war, apart from a small number who have returned under family reunification arrangements, most refugees have been unable to exercise their right of return. The state of Israel has consistently rejected the Palestinian right of return, except for a conditional offer to accept 100,000 refugees in the early 1950's which was later withdrawn. In 1950 the United Nations set up a special agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), to provide for relief services for the refugees scattered in camps throughout the region. In the 1967 war, some 350,000 Palestinians became refugees, many for the second time. Today there are around 5 million Palestinian refugees, about 70% of the total Palestinian population. They are scattered in 59 refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and individually throughout the world. Two of the primary demands by refugees are return and compensation as provided for under UN Resolution 194 of 1948.
Palestinian refugees are the largest group of refugees worldwide. For more than fifty years, Israel and members of the international community have sought, unsuccessfully, to find a political solution for Palestinian refugees, rather than a solution based on international refugee law and practice, including the principle of refugee choice, and UN resolutions - i.e. return and compensation.
Most of the Palestinian refugees are distributed
in four primary host countries in the Middle East: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria,
and the West Bank/Gaza Strip. Palestinian refugees in these four border
host countries comprise around 80% of the total Palestinian refugee population.
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| Israel |
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| Gaza Strip |
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| West Bank |
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| Jordan |
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| Lebanon |
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| Syria |
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| Egypt |
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| Saudi Arabia |
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| Kuwait |
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| Other Gulf countries |
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| Iraq & Libia |
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| The Americas |
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| Other countries |
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| Total |
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In 1948, some 900,000 Palestinians were displaced and dispossessed of their homes and lands in the course of the Zionist campaign to establish a state in Palestine.More than three-quarters of the 531 depopulated Palestinian towns and villages were completely destroyed.
On the eve of the 1948, Palestinians owned approximately 87.5% of the total area of Palestine (26,323,000 dunums or 26,323 sq. km), while Jews owned 6.6% of the total lands. The remaining land (5.9%) was classified under the British Mandate as state land.
With the end of the war, 77.94% of the area of Palestine had fallen under Israeli control, including 84.13% of Jerusalem. The land from which refugees were displaced and dispossessed accounts for 84.5% of the lands that became the state of Israel. Some 155,000 rural Israeli Jews currently live on this land. Of the remaining land, 7.2% was owned by Palestinians who remained inside Israel while 8.3% was owned by Jews before 1948.
On 11 December 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 194 (III) which recognizes the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands and receive compensation. More than 50 years late, Israel continues to refuse to implement Resolution 194.
Rather, under such laws as the Absentees' Property Law (1950) and recent measures to privatize Absentees' Property , Israel has attempted to block the return of Palestinian refugees and prevent the return of their properties, even as the government has adopted laws which facilitate the return of pre-1948 Jewish owned property in East Jerusalem.
More than 50 years later, and on the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Independence and Resolution 194, Palestinian refugees who today comprise more than 60% of the entire Palestinian population, continue to demand the implementation of their basic right to restitution as defined under international and UN resolutions.