| Total 2008 population (including descendants): | 4.62 million.[1] For the basis of this figure also see the UNRWA Definition |
|---|---|
| UNRWA estimated refugees from 1947: | 711,000[2] |
| Regions with significant populations: | Gaza Strip, Israel (sometimes known as present absentees), Jordan, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria |
| Languages: | Arabic |
| Religions: | Sunni Islam, Greek Orthodoxy, Greek Catholicism, other forms of Christianity |
Palestinian refugees or Palestine refugees, as defined by United Nations General Assembly's Resolution 194 and confirmed by the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP)[3], are persons who have been displaced from their homes in Palestine, including both Arabs and Jews.
Resolution 194 was adopted by the General Assembly on 11 December 1948, calling for the return of refugees from the ongoing Arab-Israeli hostilities. It forms one basis of the Palestinian claim for a right of return.
Most Jewish Palestine refugees have taken citizenship in Israel and in other countries. Displaced Arab Palestinian Refugees fled to other Middle Eastern countries, where their situation is often precarious and some have taken citizenship in Western countries. On taking up citizenship in another country which affords them protection, refugees lose their refugee status.[4] Most Arab Palestinian Refugees have retained their refugee status and continue to reside in refugee camps, including in the Palestinian territories. Palestinian refugees and their descendants form a sizable portion of the Palestinian diaspora.
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During the 1948 Palestine War, around 750,000 out of 900,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from the territories that became the State of Israel.[2] The causes and responsibilities of the exodus are a matter of controversy among historians and commentators of the conflict.[5]
Whereas historians now agree on most of the events of that period, there remains disagreement as to whether the exodus was the result of a plan designed before or during the war by Zionist leaders or was an unintended consequence of the war.[6]
Stephen Glazer summarizes the position of Zionist historians, notably Schechtman, Kohn, Jon Kymche and Syrkin, as saying that:
"...the Arabs in Palestine were asked to stay and live as citizens in the Jewish state. Instead, they chose to leave, either because they were unwilling to live with the Jews, or because they expected an Arab military victory which would annihilate the Zionists. They thought they could leave temporarily and return at their leisure. Later, an additional claim was put forth, namely that the Palestinians were ordered to leave, with radio broadcasts instructing them to quit their homes".[7]
Between December 1947 and March 1948, around 100,000 Palestinian Arabs fled. Among them were many from the higher and middle classes from the cities, who left voluntarily, expecting to return when the Arab states took control of the country.[8] When the Haganah went on the offensive, between April and July, a further 250,000 to 300,000 Palestinian Arabs left or were expelled, mainly from the towns of Haifa, Tiberias, Beit-Shean, Safed, Jaffa and Acre, which lost more than 90 percent of their Arab inhabitants.[9] Expulsions took place in many towns and villages, particularly along the Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem road[10] and in Eastern Galilee.[11]
About 50,000-70,000 inhabitants of Lydda and Ramle were expelled towards Ramallah by the Israel Defence Force during Operation Danny,[12] and most others during operations of the IDF in its rear areas.[13] During Operation Dekel, the Arabs of Nazareth and South Galilee were allowed to remain in their homes.[14] Today they form the core of the Arab Israeli population. From October to November 1948, the IDF launched Operation Yoav to remove Egyptian forces from the Negev and Operation Hiram to remove the Arab Liberation Army from North Galilee during which at least nine massacres of Arabs were carried out by IDF soldiers.[15] These events generated an exodus of 200,000 to 220,000 Palestinian Arabs. Here, Arabs fled fearing atrocities or were expelled if they had not fled.[16] After the war, from 1948 to 1950, the IDF expelled around 30,000 to 40,000 Arabs from the borderlands of the new Israeli state.[17]
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As a result of the Six-Day War, around 280,000 to 325,000 Palestinians fled[18] the territories occupied by Israel, including the demolished Palestinian villages of Imwas, Yalo, Bayt Nuba, Surit, Beit Awwa, Beit Mirsem, Shuyukh, Jiftlik, Agarith and Huseirat, and the "emptying" of the refugee camps of ʿAqabat Jabr and ʿEin Sulṭān.[19][20]
1991 Palestinian exodus from Kuwait took place at the end of the Gulf War, when Kuwait expelled some 450,000 Palestinians.[21] Kuwait expulsion policy, which led to this exodus, was a response to alignment of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the PLO with Saddam Hussein, who had earlier invaded Kuwait. The exodus took place during one week in March 1991, following Kuwait's liberation from Iraqi occupation.
Prior to the exodus, Palestinians made up about 30% of Kuwait's population of 2.2 million.[22] By 2006 only a few had returned to Kuwait and today the number of Palestinians living in Kuwait is less than 40,000 (under 3% of the population).
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), an organ of the United Nations created to aid the displaced from the Arab-Israeli wars, defines a Palestinian refugee as a person "whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict". UNRWA's definition of a Palestinian refugee also covers the descendants of persons who became refugees in 1948[23] regardless whether they reside in areas designated as refugee camps or in other permanent communities.
The UNRWA definition does not cover final status.[24] Its operational definition of Palestine refugee for persons qualifying for UNRWA assistance says "whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948, and 1967 conflicts," This definition has generally only been applied to those living in one of the countries where UNRWA provides relief. The UNRWA also registers as refugees descendants in the male line of Palestine refugees, and persons in need of support who first became refugees as a result of the 1967 conflict. The UNRWA definition in practice is thus both more restrictive and more inclusive than the 1951 definition. For example, the definition excludes persons taking refuge in countries other than Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but includes descendants of refugees as well as the refugees themselves. In many cases UNHCR provides support for the children of refugees too.
Descendants of Palestinian refugees under the authority of the UNRWA are, like “Nansen Passport” and “Certificate of Eligibility” holders (the documents issued those displaced by World War II) and UNHCR refugees [25] are granted the same refugee status as their parent.
Based on the UNRWA definition, the number of Palestine refugees has grown from 711,000 in 1950[2] to 4.7 million registered with the UN in 2010.
Whereas most refugees are receive the assistance of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), assistance for most Palestinian refugees - those in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon,and Syria, - comes under the older body UNRWA, established by UNGA Resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949.[26] UNRWA was set up to specifically assist Palestine refugees. Palestinian refugees outside of UNRWA's area of operations do fall under UNHCR's mandate, however.
The number of Palestine refugees varies depending on the source. For 1948-49 refugees, for example, the Israeli government suggests a number as low as 520,000 as opposed to 850,000 by their Palestinian counterparts. As of January 2010, UNRWA cites 1,396,368 registered refugees in camps and 3,370,302 registered refugees not in camps.[27]
The number of Palestinian refugees by country according to UNRWA in January 2010 were as follows:
1,951,603 Palestinian refugees are located in Jordan, of whom 338,000 are still living in refugee camps.[29] Following Jordan's annexation of the West Bank, most Palestinian refugees were granted Jordanian citizenship. The percentage of Palestinian refugees living in refugee camps to those who settled outside the camps is the lowest of all UNRWA fields of operations. Palestinian refugees are allowed access to public services and healthcare, as a result, refugee camps are becoming more of poor city suburbs than refugee camps. Most refugees moved out of the camps to other parts of the country reducing the number of refugees in need of UNRWA services to only 338,000. This caused UNRWA to reduce the budget allocated to Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. Former UNRWA chief-attorney James G. Lindsay says: "In Jordan, where 2 million Palestinian refugees live, all but 167,000 have citizenship, and are fully eligible for government services including education and health care." Lindsay suggests that eliminating services to refugees whose needs are subsidized by Jordan "would reduce the refugee list by 40%." [30][31]
Palestinians who moved from the West Bank (whether refugees or not) to Jordan, are issued yellow ID cards to distinguish them from the Palestinians of the "official 10 refugee camps" in Jordan. Since 1988, thousands of those yellow-ID card Palestinians had their Jordanian citizenship revoked in order to prevent the possibility that they might become permanent residents of the country. Jordan's Interior Minister Nayef al-Kadi said
"Our goal is to prevent Israel from emptying the Palestinian territories of their original inhabitants," the minister explained, confirming that the kingdom had begun revoking the citizenship of Palestinians. "We should be thanked for taking this measure," he said. "We are fulfilling our national duty because Israel wants to expel the Palestinians from their homeland."[32]
It is estimated that over 40,000 Palestinians have been affected in the preceding months.[33]
The first group of Palestinian refugees from Iraq arrived in India in March 2006. Generally, they were unable to find work in India as they spoke only Arabic though some found employment with UNHCR's non-governmental partners. All of them were provided with free access to governmental hospitals. Of the 165 Palestinian refugees from Iraq in India, 137 of them found clearance for resettlement in Sweden.[34]
Over 400,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon, who are deprived of certain basic rights. Lebanon barred Palestinian refugees from 73 job categories including professions such as medicine, law and engineering. They are not allowed to own property, and even need a special permit to leave their refugee camps. Unlike other foreigners in Lebanon, they are denied access to the Lebanese health care system. The Lebanese government refused to grant them work permits or permission to own land. The number of restrictions has been mounting since 1990.[35] In June 2005, however, the government of Lebanon removed some work restrictions for a few Lebanese-born Palestinians, enabling them to apply for work permits and work in the private sector.[36] In a 2007 study, Amnesty International denounced the "appalling social and economic condition" of Palestinians in Lebanon.[37]
Lebanon gave citizenship to about 50,000 Christian Palestinian refugees during the 1950s and 1960s. In the mid-1990s, about 60,000 refugees who were Shiite Muslim majority were granted citizenship. This caused a protest from Maronite authorities, leading to citizenship being given to all the Palestinian Christian refugees who were not already citizens.[38] There are about 350,000 non-citizen Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
The Lebanese Parliament is divided on granting Palestinian rights. While many Lebanese parties call for improving the civil rights of Palestinian refugees, others raise concerns of naturalizing the mainly Muslim population and the disruption this might cause to Lebanon’s fragile sectarian balance.[39]
According to writer and researcher Mudar Zahran, a Jordanian of Palestinian heritage, the media chose to deliberately ignore the conditions of the Palestinians living in Lebanese refugee camps, and that the "tendency to blame Israel for everything" has provided Arab leaders an excuse to deliberately ignore the human rights of the Palestinian in their countries.[40]
On 11 December 1948 the General Assembly discussed Bernadotte's report and resolved: "that refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbour should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.[41]" This resolution has been annually re-affirmed by the General Assembly, but General Assembly resolutions are non-binding and Israel argues that the "live in peace" condition has not been met and has therefore prevented the return of any refugees.
The Israeli declaration of independence appealed "to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship".[42] Similarly the Jewish Agency had promised to the UN before the Declaration that Palestinian Arabs would become full citizens of the State of Israel.[43] The Israeli Knesset (parliament) does not consider the Declaration to have the power of law, and Israel does not in practice consider the refugees to be Israeli citizens. The 1947 Partition Plan determined citizenship based on residency, such that Arabs and Jews residing in Palestine but not in Jerusalem would obtain citizenship in the state in which they are resident. Professor of Law at Boston University Susan Akram, Omar Barghouti and Ilan Pappé have argued that Palestinian refugees from the envisioned Jewish State were entitled to normal Israeli citizenship based on laws of state succession.[44]
The Arab League has instructed its members to deny citizenship to Palestinian Arab refugees (or their descendants) "to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right to return to their homeland".[45]
Tashbih Sayyed, a fellow of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, criticized Arab nations of making the children and grandchildren of Palestinian refugees second class citizens in Lebanon, Syria, or the Gulf States, and said that the refugees "cling to the illusion that defeating the Jews will restore their dignity".[46]
Palestinian refugees claim a right of return. Their claim is based on Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which declares that "Everyone has the right to leave any country including his own, and to return to his country", although it has been argued that the term only applies to citizens or nationals of that country. Although all Arab League members at the time- Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen- voted against the resolution,[47] they also cite article 11 of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, which "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 [...]."[48] However Resolution 194 is a nonbinding assembly resolution, and it is currently a matter of dispute whether the resolution referred only to refugees in 1948, or additionally to their descendants. The Palestinian National Authority supports this claim, and has been prepared to negotiate its implementation at the various peace talks. Both Fatah and Hamas hold a strong position for a right of return, with Fatah being prepared to give ground on the issue while Hamas is not.[49] However, a report in Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper in which Abdullah Muhammad Ibrahim Abdullah, the Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon and the chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council's Political and Parliamentary Affairs committees,[50] said the proposed future Palestinian state would not be issuing Palestinian passports to refugees – even refugees living in the West Bank and Gaza.
Upon signing the Oslo Accords in 1993, Israel, the EU and the US recognized Fatah as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian Arabs. In return, Yasser Arafat recognized the State of Israel and renounced terrorism. At the time, the accords were celebrated as an historic breakthrough. In accordance with these agreements, the Palestinian Arab refugees began to be governed by an autonomous Palestinian Authority, and the parties agreed to negotiate the permanent status of the refugees, as early as 1996. However, events have halted the phasing process and made the likelihood of a future sovereign Palestinian state uncertain.[51] In another development, a rift developed between Fatah in the West-Bank and Hamas in Gaza after Hamas won the 2006 elections. Among other differences, Fatah officially recognizes the Oslo Accords with Israel, whereas Hamas does not.