1 - Refugees Under Madrid and Oslo
2 - Background
3 - The Israeli Position
4 - The Palestinian Position
5 - During the Interim Period
6 - Proposals
5 - During the Interim Period
The first meeting of the multilateral Quadripartite Committee, as established under the
DOP, was held in May 1995 in Jordan. At that time, the delegates agreed to organize the
committee into two panels. The first was to include the foreign ministers of Israel,
Egypt, and Jordan and Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath and was to meet every two to
three months. It would oversee the activities of the second panel, which was to be
comprised of technical experts. The technical panel would meet every three weeks to
discuss issues regarding the 1967 displaced persons and to work on bridging the gap on
matters related to Palestinian refugees. The panel of experts met for the first time in
June 1995, and agreed to focus work on the following five-point agenda:
- Defining who is a displaced person
- Establishing the number of displaced persons
- Determining the modulations for admission of such people
- Undefined confidence-building measures
- Setting a deadline for admission of displaced persons
However, after a joint meeting of both panels in February 1996, when the delegates
agreed on the need to form an additional committee to gather general information on the
refugees, reports described both sides as being extremely far apart on such fundamental
issues as the definition of refugees, how many actually exist and a possible timetable for
readmission.
Since the outset of the DOP, Israel has made certain gestures with regard to
Palestinian refugees, such as agreeing to allow Palestinians to return to areas of the
West Bank and Gaza, in accordance with humanitarian principles and the internationally
recognized criteria of family reunification. Since 1993, Israel has approved more than
2,000 cases of family reunification (involving 5,000 people) annually. Israel has also
accorded permanent status to more than 6,000 Palestinians who originally arrived for
temporary visits to the West Bank or Gaza, and who extended their stays beyond the dates
allowed on their permits. A number of individuals deported in the early 1970s due to prior
terrorist activities have also been permitted to return to the territories, together with
their families.
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