Palestinian Refugees

"An Introduction"

The Palestinian refugee problem was the result of two wars (1948 and 1967), and attacks and massacres perpetrated by Jewish underground terrorist groups such as Haganah. Following the 1948 war, the UN estimated that there were 726,000 refugees outside and 32,000 inside the armistice lines. Of the approximately 8000,000 Arabs originally situated in the area that became Israel, only some 100,000 remained in their homes and became an Arab minority in the Jewish state. During the second exodus in 1967, some 30,000 Palestinians left the West Bank and Golan area (UN estimates), almost half of them second-time refuges. The refugee issue has been on the agenda of efforts concerning a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict ever since.

The right of return for Palestinian refugees is internationally recognized by UN Resolution 194 of December 1948.

Refugees in numbers:

In the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Registered Refugees: 1,133,057 (ie. ca. 50% of total population)

of which in the West Bank: 564,657

and in the Gaza Strip: 635,099

Camp Population: 474,727 (41%9%)

of which in the West Bank: 128,284 (2.57%)

and in the Gaza Strip 346,443 (54.5%)

Refugees living out of Camps: 658,330 (58/1%)

of which in the West Bank: 369,474 (74.2%)

and in the Gaza Strip: 288,656 (45.5%)

Most refugee camps were established between 1948-1953 (only shufat Camp in Jerusalem was founded later, in 1965). Camps in Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarm (north) accommodate refugees from Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, their surrounding villages and the Galilee Most refugees from southern and central Palestine live in the camps of the Hebron and Bethlehem areas. Gaza refugees originate mainly from the coastal and southern parts of Palestine. In the West Bank, there are 19 camps, in Gaza 8. Although nearly half the refugee population have moved out camps, they are still severely overcrowded with cramped housing, unpaved streets and open sewers. UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, is responsible for refugee camps. It provided health and rehabilitation services, education/training, water and electricity supply, sanitation, and building control.

The refugee issue is one of the permanent status issues to be dealt with when Israel and the PA begin negotiations to deal with the issue and the find a solution to be integrated in the final settlement between Israel and the PLO/PA. The fate of the 1948 refugees, however, is widely ignored.

There are more than 3 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. Only 38% of the Palestinian refugees in the Middle East live in the OPT, while the majority lives in Jordan. Hundreds of thousands others are in Lebanon and Syria. 79% of all Palestinian refugees live in refugee camps; 60% of them under the poverty line.

Source: PASSIA - Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs