1 - Refugees Under Madrid and Oslo
2 - Background
3 - The Israeli Position
4 - The Palestinian Position
5 - During the Interim Period
6 - Proposals
3 - The Israeli Position
Israeli officials reject the claim of absolute "right of return" for all
Palestinian refugees and displaced persons on several points. According to Israel, the
absolute right of return for all Palestinian refugees and displaced persons is a direct
threat to Israeli statehood. There are concerns that the return of hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians and their offspring would interfere with the area's demographic
composition. Further, some fear that a number of refugees might constitute a security
threat and upon readmission could band with other Palestinian extremists to target Israel.
Instead, Israelis contend that an agreement on the refugee situation should be based on
three interrelated components: resettlement of refugees and their descendants in the
nations where they currently reside, international efforts to improve quality of life in
refugee camps, and restricted readmission based exclusively on humanitarian
considerations.
Moreover, refuting the central Palestinian claim for absolute right of return, Israelis
argue that U.N. Resolution 194 was only passed with the status of a non-binding
recommendation. Other Israelis argue that absolute "right of return" is
inconsistent with historical circumstances because the Palestinian refugee and displaced
persons problem is a direct result of the 1948 and 1967 wars, which were forced upon
Israel by relentless hostility from her Arab neighbors.
The first round of final status negotiations on the bilateral level between Israel and
the Palestinians opened in May 1996. As the two sides prepared to begin addressing the
most sensitive and difficult issues of the entire peace process, on the issue of refugees,
Israel maintained that it would offer conditioned compensation based on reciprocal
compensation for the property of Jews expelled from Arab countries. In private, however,
Israeli officials say they expect that in the end most refugees, with the exception of
those in Lebanon under unique circumstances, will remain in place aided by international
funds, with continued limited readmission based on humanitarian conditions.
[ NEXT: The Palestinian Position ]
