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(10 Nov. 2015) Now Available: BADIL Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 2013-2015
(10 Nov. 2015) Now Available: BADIL Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 2013-2015
PR/EN/101115/35

BADIL is proud to announce the release of the 8th installment of its biennial Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, which focuses on the period between 2013 and 2015. This issue explores the substantive elements of displacement - particularly the methods employed in the historic and contemporary displacement of Palestinians –as well as the international framework of protection for refugees in general, with a particular focus on the framework uniquely applicable to Palestinian refugees.

By the end of 2014, roughly 7.98 million (66 percent) of 12.10 million Palestinians worldwide were forcibly displaced persons. Among them are roughly 7.26 million Palestinian refugees and 720,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). Despite the current crises in the Middle East and the resultant mass population displacement; Palestinians still constitute the largest displaced population in the world.

This edition of the Survey is unique as it addresses Palestinian refugees’ perceptions and knowledge of international protection of refugees, and that of Palestinian refugees in particular. The protection gaps and its consequent impacts on Palestinian refugees are analyzed based on a questionnaire that was conducted by BADIL in March-April 2015. The population sampled for this survey consists of over 3,000 Palestinian refugees living in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan and Lebanon. BADIL also gathered data from Palestinian refugees from Syria through two focus groups, one in Lebanon and one in Jordan. The Survey also analyzes the views of Palestinian refugees towards achieving a permanent solution for the refugee issue. The results illustrate a shared belief among Palestinian refugees in the need to invest in alternative means that force Israel to comply with international law, to end Israeli impunity and for Palestinians to actively pursue their own entitlements as opposed to waiting for others to pursue them on their behalf.

This edition, therefore, provides stakeholders, duty bearers, academia and researchers with a rich resource and, in outlining the situation and framework as it currently operates, unveiling its flaws, and exploring the impact of these failings on Palestinian refugees themselves, contributes to an international law-based approach to the protection of Palestinian refugees.

The Survey will be officially launched through a public panel that will take place in the coming weeks in Bethlehem, with the presence of refugee experts and BADIL staff. Moreover, snapshots, information graphics and articles will be published with the purpose of disseminating the information contained in the Survey through different platforms. Please follow BADIL on social media or join our newsletter for more information.

To get your hard copy of the Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 2013-2015,
please contact us at: [email protected]