Editing Palestinian refugees (section)

==Positions==
{{Main|Palestinian right of return}}
{{Israel-Palestinian peace process}}

On 11 December 1948 the [[United Nations General Assembly]] discussed Bernadotte's report and passed a resolution: "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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/043/65/IMG/NR004365.pdf?OpenElement |access-date=20 June 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108201915/http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/043/65/IMG/NR004365.pdf?OpenElement |archive-date=8 January 2007 |title=Ods Home Page }}</ref> This General Assembly article 11 of [[UN General Assembly Resolution 194|Resolution 194]] has been annually re-affirmed.{{sfn|''A/RES/194 (III)''}}<ref name="k" />

===Israeli views===
The Jewish Agency promised to the UN before 1948 that Palestinian Arabs would become full citizens of the State of Israel,<ref>Ilan Pappe, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine", p. 110</ref> and the [[Declaration of Independence (Israel)|Israeli declaration of independence]] invited the Arab inhabitants of Israel to "full and equal citizenship".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Establishment%20of%20State%20of%20Israel|title=Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel|work=GxMSDev}}</ref> In practice, Israel does not grant citizenship to the refugees, as it does to those Arabs who continue to reside in its borders. The 1947 [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/2591|title=I Want This Poem to End: A Nakba Commemoration |date=17 May 2018|website=thejerusalemfund.org}}</ref><ref>[http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14921 "Palestinian refugees were excluded from entitlement to citizenship in the State of Israel under the 1952 Citizenship Law. They were "denationalized" and turned into stateless refugees in violation of the law of state succession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325082424/http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14921 |date=25 March 2009 }}.". "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine", Ilan Pappé, p. 131</ref>

Following the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967, Israel gained control over a substantial number of refugee camps in the territories it captured from [[Egypt]] and [[Jordan]]. The Israeli government attempted to resettle them permanently by initiating a subsidized "build-your-own home" program. Israel provided land for refugees who chose to participate; the Palestinians bought building materials on credit and built their own houses, usually with friends. Israel provided the new neighborhoods with necessary services, such as schools and sewers.<ref name="CSM1992">{{cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1992/0526/26191.html|title=Permanent Homes for Palestinian Refugees|author=The Christian Science Monitor|date=26 May 1992|work=The Christian Science Monitor|access-date=24 April 2016|archive-date=6 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506135823/https://www.csmonitor.com/1992/0526/26191.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[United Nations General Assembly]] passed Resolutions 31/15 and 34/52, which condemned the program as a violation of the refugees' "inalienable [[Palestinian right of return|right of return]]", and called upon Israel to stop the program.<ref>{{cite book|author=United Nations|title=Yearbook of the United Nations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BTdmYFgvyi0C&pg=PA285|year=1992|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|isbn=978-0-7923-1970-2|page=285}}</ref> Thousands of refugees were resettled into various neighborhoods, but the program was suspended due to pressure from the PLO.<ref name="CSM1992" />

===Arab states===
{{see also|Casablanca Protocol}}
Most Palestinian refugees live either in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, or the three original "host countries" of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria who unwillingly accepted the first wave of refugees in 1948; these refugees are supported by [[UNRWA]]. The small number of refugees who settled in Egypt or Iraq were supported directly by those countries' governments. Over the last seven decades, a number of refugees have migrated to other Arab states, particularly the [[Arab states of the Gulf]], primarily as [[economic migrants]].{{sfn|Albanese|Takkenberg|2020|p=183|ps=: "The vast majority of the Palestinians who became refugees in 1948, continues to live in the places where they initially took refuge: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, as well as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, known as the traditional ‘host countries’, had no choice but to accept the presence of the refugees, while the United Nations (UN) through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) provided them assistance and attempted to negotiate a political solution. Smaller groups of refugees who had settled in Egypt and Iraq were assisted by local governments, rather than the UN. Difficult living conditions in the host countries prompted thousands of refugees to seek better opportunities not only in the Arabian Peninsula, but also in North Africa."}}

Arab states' view of Palestinian refugees has varied over time. Arab governments have often supported the refugees in the name of [[Arab nationalism|Arab unity]], or because they viewed the Palestinians as an important source of skilled [[human capital]] to support their economic development. However, Arab governments have also frequently "despised" the Palestinian refugees – either viewing them as a threat to demographic balance (as in Lebanon), or because of the "political message of freedom and emancipation that their ‘Palestinian-ness’ carried", or else because in some countries' history Palestinians have been "somewhat associated with strife and unrest".{{sfn|Albanese|Takkenberg|2020|p=183-184|ps=: "Arab countries have generally supported Palestinians, including refugees, in the name of Arab brotherhood and solidarity, but at times also despised them, as a result of political factors and interests. For example, in Jordan former King Abdullah’s aspiration to modernize the East Bank of the Jordan River and re-establish ‘Greater Syria’ resulted in the annexation of the West Bank in 1950, and the extension of Jordanian citizenship to Palestinians under its control (refugees and non-refugee alike). In Lebanon, the Palestinian influx, dominated by Sunni Muslims, was perceived as a threat to the delicate balance between different religious confessions and the related political status quo. In Syria, the Palestinian refugees never constituted more than three per cent of the population and their presence was therefore far less sensitive than in Lebanon. In North Africa and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Palestinians were not recognized as refugees as they largely moved there as migrant workers seeking better opportunities, rather than international protection. Arab rulers generally welcomed them as a much needed work-force and also offered political support to their national cause, but subliminally despised the political message of freedom and emancipation that their ‘Palestinian-ness’ carried. With time, Palestinian refugees’ identity crystalized as a ‘nation-in-exile’, but it also became part of the national fabric of some of these countries, not only in Jordan and Lebanon, but also in Egypt, Iraq, and Kuwait. In the national history of some of those countries, Palestinians are somewhat associated with strife and unrest. This, coupled with lack of application of international human rights and refugee laws, as well as a high degree of politicization, has compounded their situation. While socio-economic differences exist across Palestinians in exile, and those who have thrived in host communities are all but rare, the large majority has come to constitute a ‘politically, socially, and economically disadvantaged group’ that has often experienced poverty, discrimination, and, not infrequently, persecution because of their nationality, including in countries where they were initially well received and either legally or de facto integrated. As a result, pending the quest for a political settlement, many have been forced to move from one country to another, often more than once, finding themselves going from one unstable situation to the next."}}

Palestinian refugees have taken citizenship in other Arab states, most notably in [[Jordan]]. However, the conferring of citizenship is a sensitive topic, as "it is often perceived as allowing Israel to evade its responsibility towards the refugees".{{sfn|Albanese|Takkenberg|2020|p=268|ps=: "While cases of Palestinians acquiring citizenship in Arab states are not rare – with Jordan standing out for conferring its citizenship to a large group of Palestinians en masse – they have been ad hoc and are not well documented. The subject remains sensitive, as it is often perceived as allowing Israel to evade its responsibility towards the refugees. In general, the treatment has ranged from favourable in certain countries and at given times in history (e.g. in Libya and the Arabian Peninsula until the 1990s and in Iraq until 2003), to discriminatory and often degrading in others (such as Lebanon and Egypt after the 1970s, as well as many states on multiple occasions since the 1990s). Such treatment has also reflected self-interest, since Palestinians were largely welcome as qualified work-force at the time it was needed. Political circumstances surrounding the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, as well as shifts in the relations between Arab states and the Palestinian leadership (PLO and PA) have often impacted Arab states’ approach to Palestinians. Vindictive policies, often aiming at targeting the PLO, have resulted in the punishment of hundreds of thousands and the ongoing displacement of many more. About 700,000 Palestinians, mostly children and grandchildren of the 1948 refugees, have been cumulatively displaced from Arab countries alone, from the 1970s onward. While the legacy of Palestinian militant resistance in a number of Arab countries cannot be ignored, as a whole, the Palestinian people – and the refugees in particular – have paid the brunt for the political deadlock."}} On 17 October 2023 during the [[Gaza war]], [[Jordan]]'s [[Abdullah II of Jordan|king Abdullah]] warned against pushing refugees into Egypt or Jordan, adding that the humanitarian situation must to be dealt with inside Gaza and the West Bank: "That is a [[Red line (phrase)|red line]], because I think that is the plan by certain of the usual suspects to try and create [[de facto]] issues on the ground. No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Alkousaa |first=Riham |date=17 October 2023 |title=King Abdullah on Gaza: 'No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt' |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/king-abdullah-gaza-no-refugees-jordan-no-refugees-egypt-2023-10-17/ |url-status=live |access-date=17 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017220222/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/king-abdullah-gaza-no-refugees-jordan-no-refugees-egypt-2023-10-17/ |archive-date=17 October 2023}}</ref>

[[Tashbih Sayyed]], a fellow of the [[Foundation for Defense of Democracies]], criticized Arab nations of violating human rights and making the children and grandchildren of Palestinian refugees second class citizens in [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], or the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf|Gulf States]], and said that the UNRWA Palestine refugees "cling to the illusion that defeating the Jews will restore their dignity".<ref name="NRO">{{cite news|last=Sayyed |first=Tashbih |title=Defeat Terrorism First |url=http://article.nationalreview.com/269137/defeat-terrorism-first/tashbih-sayyed |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129172748/http://article.nationalreview.com/269137/defeat-terrorism-first/tashbih-sayyed |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 January 2013 |access-date=17 June 2010 |newspaper=National Review |date=18 June 2003 }}</ref>

===Palestinian views===
Most Palestine refugees claim a [[Palestinian right of return]]. In lack of an own country, 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 (1948) – [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]], [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]], [[Lebanon]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Second Syrian Republic|Syria]], and [[Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen|Yemen]] – voted against the resolution,<ref name="Yearbook">{{cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/361eea1cc08301c485256cf600606959/2dac0ed54bcd6af68525629f00718b98?OpenDocument |title=Yearbook of the United Nations 1948–49 (excerpts) |date=31 December 1949 |work=[[UNISPAL]] |access-date=8 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721233654/http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/361eea1cc08301c485256cf600606959/2dac0ed54bcd6af68525629f00718b98?OpenDocument |archive-date=21 July 2011 }}</ref> they also cite the article 11 of [[United Nations General Assembly]] [[UN General Assembly Resolution 194|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 [...]."<ref name="k">{{cite news|year=1948 |url=http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/043/65/IMG/NR004365.pdf?OpenElement |title=United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 |format=PDF |publisher=United Nations |access-date=20 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108201915/http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/043/65/IMG/NR004365.pdf?OpenElement |archive-date=8 January 2007 }}</ref> However it is currently a matter of dispute whether Resolution 194 referred only to the estimated 50,000 remaining Palestine refugees from the 1948 Palestine War, or additionally to their UNRWA-registered 4,950,000 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 claimed ''right of return'', with Fatah being prepared to give ground on the issue while Hamas is not.<ref>R. Brynen, 'Addressing the Palestinian Refugee Issue: A Brief Overview' (McGill University, background paper for the Refugee Coordination Forum, Berlin, April 2007), p. 15, available [http://prrn.mcgill.ca/research/papers/brynen-070514.pdf here] (08/08/09)</ref>

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,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Sep-15/148791-interview-refugees-will-not-be-citizens-of-new-state.ashx#ixzz1aWRkXv9r|title=Interview: Refugees will not be citizens of new state|work=The Daily Star Newspaper – Lebanon}}</ref> said the proposed future Palestinian state would not be issuing Palestinian passports to UNRWA Palestine refugees – even refugees living in the West Bank and Gaza.

An independent poll by Khalil Shikaki was conducted in 2003 with 4,500 Palestinian refugee families of Gaza, West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon. It showed that the majority (54%) would accept a financial compensation and a place to live in West Bank or Gaza in place of returning to the exact place in modern-day Israel where they or their ancestors lived (this possibility of settlement is contemplated in the Resolution 194). Only 10% said they would live in Israel if given the option. The other third said they would prefer to live in other countries, or rejected the terms described.<ref>[https://world.time.com/2012/11/06/the-palestinian-right-of-return-abbas-wades-into-the-morass/ The Palestinian 'Right of Return': Abbas Wades into the Morass], ''[[Time Magazine]]'', 6 November 2012</ref> However, the poll has been criticized as "methodologically problematic" and "rigged".<ref>{{Cite web|title=The 'Right of Return' Debate Revisited|url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-right-of-return-debate-revisited|access-date=10 July 2020|website=www.washingtoninstitute.org|language=en}}</ref> In 2003, nearly a hundred refugee organizations and NGOs in Lebanon denounced Shikaki's survey, as no local organization was aware of its implementation in Lebanon.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Exile and Return. Predicaments of Palestinians and Jews|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0812220520|pages=36}}</ref>

In a 2 January 2005 opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Association for Human Rights involving Palestinian refugees in Lebanon:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://saidacity.net/_NewsPaper.php?NewsPaperID=131&Action=Details|title=استطلاع للاجئين في مخيمات لبنان: الغالبية تعارض انتخابات تحت الاحتلال ولا تثق بقدرة "ابو مازن"|publisher=Saida City Net|date=2 January 2005|access-date=9 December 2014}}</ref>
* 96% refused to give up their right of return
* 3% answered contrary
* 1% did not answer