Statement Issued by the National Conference for the Right of Return of Palestinian Refugees
(Rashad al-Shawwa Center/Gaza, 8-1-2001)

1. The Palestinian refugee question is the core of the Israeli-Arab/Palestinian conflict. It precedes all other issues deriving from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands in 1967.

2. The Right of Return and Compensation is sacred and enshrined in international law and political practice, especially in UN Resolution 194. It is an individual and a collective right of the Palestinians; it is non-negotiable, and cannot be postponed or subsumed under other issues.

3. Any final agreement with Israel that does not guarantee the implementation of the refugees' right of return to their homes and properties from which they were evicted in the Nakba of 1948 as well as their compensation for suffering and damages incurred, will not be considered legitimate or binding, and it is the right of the Palestinian people to resist its implementation."

For a brief description of the conference see BADIL Press Release (9 January 2001).

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