The UN is the guardian of international law. But what does its handling of Palestine reveal about this lofty claim?

7. Scope of the study

The Palestinian refugee question, resulting from the events surrounding the birth of the state of Israel seventy years ago, remains one of the largest and most protracted refugee crises of the post-WWII era. Numbering over six million in the Middle East alone, Palestinian refugees' status varies considerably according to the state or territory 'hosting' them, the UN agency assisting them and political circumstances surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict these refugees are naturally associated with. Despite being foundational to both the experience of the Palestinian refugees and the resolution of their plight, international law is often side-lined in political discussions concerning their fate. This compelling new book, building on the seminal contribution of the first edition (1998), offers a clear and comprehensive analysis of various areas of international law (including refugee law, human rights law, humanitarian law, the law relating to stateless persons, principles related to internally displaced persons, as well as notions of international criminal law), and probes their relevance to the provision of international protection for Palestinian refugees and their quest for durable solutions.

Exploring the evolution of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), this book fills a lacuna in literature on the agency. UNRWA and Palestinian Refugees employs recent fieldwork in order to analyse challenges in programmes and service delivery, protection, camp governance, community participation, and camp improvement and reconstruction. The chapters examine the way UNRWA is adapting to a changing social, political and economic context, mostly within urban settings – a paradigmatic shift from understanding the Agency’s role as simply a provider of relief and services to one comprehensively supporting the human development of Palestinian refugees. Examining the refugee debate using new disciplines and research frameworks, this collection aims to emphasise the centrality of the Palestinian refugee issue for Middle East peace-making and to contribute a better understanding of a unique agency. This book will be a useful aid for students and researchers with an interest in Middle East Studies, Politics, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

As violence escalates in the Middle East, a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine seems more elusive than ever. Yet one thing remains clear: without constructive dialogue such an agreement cannot occur. This timely volume presents just such a dialogue. It brings together opinions, perspectives, and research focused on one of the region’s most complex and volatile problems: the Palestinian refugee situation. Based on a 1999 conference at the University of Oklahoma International Program Center, Palestinian Refugees combines contributions from Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Americans, and Europeans. In addition to focusing on the Palestinian refugees, the essays present various proposals for solving the Palestinian problem. Organized in two parts, the volume presents both scholarly essays and position papers. The scholarly essays place current issues in historical context and explore the Palestinian belief in the "right of return" and questions of appropriate compensation. The position papers focus on policy and offer a variety of perspectives. Concluding the volume is a special essay on public polls that gauge how Palestinians and Israelis view the circumstances of Palestinian refugees and what they feel about possible solutions.

This book examines the leading role of the Quaker American Friends Service Committee in the United Nations relief program for Palestine Arab refugees in 1948-1950 in the Gaza Strip. Using archival data, oral histories, and biographical accounts, it provides a detailed look at internal decision-making in an early non-governmental organization.

What is the historical framework of the Palestinian refugee crisis and what durable solutions are available? Which human rights instruments are applicable to Palestinian refugees? What is the place of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees within the global refugee framework and what challenges does the Agency face? This book approaches the question of Palestinian refugees from a legal, historical and political perspective to address these and other relevant questions. Seeking to impart an understanding of the place of Palestinian refugees under international law, it explores the rights of Palestinian refugees, including the collective rights of self-determination and state sovereignty and the individual right of return. It discusses the specialized, separate regime established for Palestinian refugees and the relationship of this regime vis-à-vis the UN Refugee Agency and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

There is perhaps no aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict that is more complex and more emotionally charged than the problem of the Palestinian refugees. The atmosphere surrounding the discussion has led to confusion, so that the facts have become unclear and the problems more difficult to treat. This book, first published in 1981, examines the complex interlocking issues that surround the topic of the Palestinian refugees in the country that adopted most of them – Jordan.

More than four million Palestinian refugees live in protracted exile across the Middle East. Taking a regional approach to Palestinian refugee exile and alienation across the Levant, this book proposes a new understanding of the spatial and political dimensions of refugee camps across the Middle East. Combining critical scholarship with ethnographic insight, the essays uncover host states’ marginalisation of stateless refugees and shed light on new terminology on refugees, migration and diaspora studies. The impact on the refugee community is detailed in novel studies of refugee identity, memory and practice and new legal approaches to compensation and "right of return". The book opens a critical debate on key concepts and proposes a new understanding of the spatial and political dimensions of refugee camps, better understood as laboratories of Palestinian society and "state-in-making". This strong collection of original essays is an essential resource for scholars and students in refugee studies, forced migration, disaster studies, legal anthropology, urban studies, international law and Middle East history.